Its-Truth 

Helpfulness ^'*^DANGER 

By- 

James Henry Fletcher 




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SPIRITUALISM 



ITS TEIJTH, HELPFULIS^ESS 

AJSTD da:n^gee 




JAMES HENRY FLETCHER 



SPIRITUAUSM 

ITS TRUTH, HELPFULNESS 
AND DANGER 

BY 
JAMES HENRY FLETCHER 



The Occult Book Concern 

PUBLISHERS 

9 TO 15 Murray Street 
New York City 






/p 






GOPTHIGHT, 1915 

Br James HEisriiT FiiETCHEH 



#/i/^ 



©CI,AJ10S89 

JoHiir B. Watkiws €051? abt 

Phinters 

New Xoek Gitt 

SEP 25 1915 



Ijs^teodtjction 

The object of this book is not to convert 
my readers into Spiritualists, but to call 
their attention to what my long experience 
with, and investigation of the subject has 
proven to me as its Truth, Helpfulness, 
and Danger. 

It must be clearly understood that, 
whilst many of my views may fully coin- 
cide with the teaching of modern Spiritual- 
ism, I do not in any way represent any 
Spiritualist Society — and that Spiritual- 
ists must be held blameless for any state- 
ments I make. It is not my purpose to be 
offensive to that great body of people who 
call themselves Spiritualists, and for many 
of them I have profound respect, but I 
shall not hesitate to state what to me seems 
true, though it may be opposite to their 
general teaching. 

I shall endeavor to place before my read- 
ers the testimony of some of the Seers, 
Prophets, and Healers of Bible History, 
also those of early civilization, and the 



conclusions reached by many of onr most 
able Thinkers, Scientists, Teachers, and 
leaders of present-day thought. 

This book will by no means cover the 
whole field of this wonderful subject, and 
is only intended to touch lightly upon some 
of its varied phases, leaving to a large ex- 
tent details to be worked out by the reader 
or student as opportunity may occur. 

Considering the large amount of favor- 
able testimony left us by the greatest think- 
ers the world has ever known, it should 
take more than ordinary courage to de- 
nounce the whole subject as impossible and 
fraudulent, and yet that is what we often 
hear. I am, however, glad to believe that 
this comes chiefly from people who are al- 
most entirely ignorant on the subject, 
hence their courage. For some who take 
this view I feel a great deal of sympathy, 
knowing the manner in which this subject 
is frequently presented to the public. 

To me, faith has been lost in sight, and 
belief in knowledge. I have seen hundreds 
of Spirit people, therefore I know that they 
do return, and that they can give messages 
of hope, warnings of danger, and solace in 
distress; the quality and reliability of the 



message depending on the character of the 
spirit who is giving it, and the capability of 
the medium through whom it is given of in- 
terpreting it correctly. 

If through the perusal of this book,, some 
mind that up to now has been lying dormant 
on this subject, is aroused to active think- 
ing on the reality of life, or light is shed on 
a road hitherto dark, and its pitfalls re- 
vealed; or the burden of sorrow made 
lighter to some wayfarer; then will it have 
accomplished the end for which it has been 
sent out, and will need no apology for its 
existence. 

J. H. Fletcher. 



Spiritual Gifts 

"Now concerning spiritual gifts, breth- 
ren, I would not have you ignorant. Now 
there are diversities of gifts, but the same 
Spirit. And there are differences of ad- 
ministrations, but the same Lord. And 
there are diversities of operations, but it is 
the same God which worketh all in all. But 
the manifestation of the Spirit is given to 
every man to profit withal. For to one is 
given by the Spirit the word of wisdom ; to 
another the word of knowledge by the same 
Spirit ; to another faith by the same Spirit ; 
to another the gifts of healing by the same 
Spirit ; to another the working of miracles ; 
to another prophecy ; to another discerning 
of spirits; to another divers kinds of 
tongues; to another the interpretation of 
tongues; but all these worketh that one 
and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every 
man severally as he will. For as the body 
is one, and hath many members, and all the 
members of that one body, being many, are 
one body: so also is Christ. For by one 
Spirit we are all baptized into one body, 
whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether 
we be bond or free ; and have been all made 
to drink into one Spirit." — I Corinthians, 
12. 



Il^DEX OF OhAPTEES 



Page 

Chapter I. Spirit Return 1 

Chapter II. Spirit Return of the Bible 

Supplemented and Confirmed 20 

Chapter III. Spirit Lights and Voices 45 

Chapter IV. Materialization and Physical 

Manifestations 54 

Chapter V. Prophecy, Ancient and Modern 78 

Chapter VI. It Takes Away Pear 103 

Chapter VII. Helpfulness by Consolation. . 121 

Chapter VIII. Helpful by Spirit Healing... 127 

Chapter IX. Astral Bodies and Thought 

Forms 149 

Chapter X. Spiritualism Helpful — by the 
Demand it Makes for Intelli- 
gent Research 169 

Chapter XI. Spiritualism — Its Danger.... 181 

Chapter XII. Obsession 190 

Chapter XIII. The Power of Thought and 

the Need of the World. ... 237 



IlyTDBX TO HeADLI]^B8 



Page 

A bright light and a voice 49 

A business man's troubles 117 

A case of appendicitis 142 

A different way 197 

A foundation rock 100 

A gentleman I had long known in Europe. . 37 

A horse would be sick 89 

A hotel man 204 

A man who had the dropsy 134 

A materialized spirit awakens Peter and 

leads him out of prison 64 

A Methodist and an Episcopalian 209 

A mother requests her son not to go abroad 119 

A rare case of readiness 214 

A ring is materialized 76 

A sad case 195 

A son is promised 79 

A son is promised who shall not be shaved. . 80 

A spirit from Liverpool 42 

A spirit man run over and spirit Indians in 

paints and feathers 23 

A spirit plays on an accordion 71 

A spirit sister is described to a friend 39 

A spirit who had been shot in the head. ... 41 

A suicide asks forgiveness 125 



Page 

A table lifted up by spirits 76 

A thought canary 164 

A thought-child in New York 157 

A train accident t.. 116 

A vision whilst in mid-Atlantic 36 

A voice from Heaven 49 

A wife proves her identity 121 

Absent treatment heals 3,000 miles away. . . 139 
All nature dangerous when handled in ignor- 
ance 186 

An astral body recognized by a sister 153 

An extremely sad case 210 

An Oriental materializes 58 

An unexpected trip 93 

And Satan came also 208 

Another hotel man 204 

Are hotels hot-beds for obsession? 206 

Are they not all ministering spirits? 1 

As she had been told 35 

Balaam's ass sees a spirit and speaks 5 

Because of their unbelief 142 

Belshazzar's feast 55 

Came in fear, returned rejoicing 211 

Consensus of opinion 206 

Control by pernicious spirits dangerous. ... 188 

Control yourself 187 

Cromwell 21 

Daniel sees a spirit 14 

D, D. Home 69 

Discord 198 

Dr. Newton 136 

xii 



Page 

Each in his own tongue 98 

Elisha prophesies a son 83 

Elisha prophesies seemingly impossible things 83 

Ella Wheeler Wilcox 34 

Emancipation 233 

Ezekiel sees a hand 60 

Fear 103 

Florence Cook 70 

Foolish dependence on spirits 101 

For this saying the Devil is deported 193 

For thoughts are living things 158 

For truth and instruction 185 

Frightened by an obsessing spirit 200 

Girl is carried in a chair 68 

God commands Moses to heal 127 

Going to Boston 91 

Good tidings 100 

Had their tickets for the matinee 184 

Healed by laying on of hands 137 

Healed by magnetized articles 138 

Healed by the spoken word 138 

Healing by the churches 132 

He cast out Devils 19 2 

He dwelt in the tombs 190 

He is a lunatic 194 

He left his cane home 141 

Herod in fear 110 

Ignorance 188 

"I know thee who thou art" 194 

Jacob wrestleth with an angel 57 

Jealousy 106 

xiii 



Page 

Jeremiah foretelleth the death of Hananiah. 84 

Jesus appears to His disciples 17 

Jesus gives absent treatment 135 

Jesus healed those who needed His help. . . . 137 

Jesus healing on the Sabbath day 133 

Jesus is tempted of the Devil 200 

Jesus materialized 61 

Jezebel hears Elijah had slain the prophets. . 10 

Joan d'Arc 21 

Joseph ordered to Egypt 110 

Joseph receives instructions 15 

Materialized hands 56 

Meeting spirit friends a joy 126 

Moral courage 115 

More than conquerers 232 

Moving of material things by spirits 72 

My father's vision 30 

My first experience 32 

My own astral 154 

Naaman requested to bathe in Jordan 128 

No guarantee 209 

No man liveth to himself 242 

No two cases alike 204 

Not always a case of "like attracts like". . . 200 

Obsession nothing new 188 

Occupation does not necessarily make obses- 
sion imperative 209 

Painting by spirits 74 

Peter's vision 50 

Plato 21 

Preparing for our next expression 102 

xiv 



Page 

Prophecy is promised 78 

Public circles and developing classes 202 

Raps 75 

Raps heard Avhilst dining 77 

Rev. B. P. Austin 177 

Rev. H. R. Haweis 169 

Saul blinded by spirit light 47 

Saul had caused the mediums to be put to 

death 7 

Shakespeare 22 

Sir Oliver Lodge 175 

Sir William Crooks and direct writing 71 

Some have eyes and see not 112 

Spirit help for those who heed 114 

Spirit helpfulness varied as human needs. . . 123 

Spiritual gifts viii 

"Such as I have, give I unto thee" 140 

Swedenborg 21 

The axe's head falls off 12 

The bow 53 

The burning bush 45 

The call of Samuel 51 

The children of Israel had done evil 9 

The children of Israel led with a pillar of 

fire by night 46 

The day of Pentecost 53 

The helpfulness of spiritualism 97 

The law of compensation 99 

The meeting place of discarnate spirits 207 

The message seems so trifling 113 

The mountain was full of horses and chariots 

of fire 12 



Page 

The result of fearlessness 103 

The solace and rest of music 199 

The testimony of one who had investigated 

for over forty years 124 

The thought-body of a youth seen in New 

York while his physical body was living 

in Sweden 152 

They cast out and healed 192 

Think of the biggest crooks you have ever 

known 208 

Told I should leave Toronto soon 88 

Told I was coming to America 87 

Transfiguration 16 

Undesirable results 186 

Victorien Sardou 172 

Voodooism 217 

Warned of a fall 112 

We take character with us 183 

What of these evil undeveloped spirits?. . . . 203 

Where spiritual truth is taught 206 

Will have nothing to do with it 183 

Will not go back to England to live 87 

Worse than highway robbers 216 

"You will not be their manager" 92 



SPIRITUALISM 

ITS TRUTH 



CHAPTER I. 

''Are they not all ministering spirits?" 

—Eeh. 1, 14. 

SPIRIT RETUEN". 

The quotations from the Bible are not 
given because they are there, or that the 
fact of their being there makes them infal- 
lible proofs, but rather for comparison, to 
show how present-day experience proves 
their truth and calls to our remembrance 
that God and His laws are the same yester- 
day, today, and forever. 

In the Bible these spirits are called by a 
variety of names, such as God, Angel of 
God, Lord God, Angel of the Lord, Son of 
God, Son of Man, Holy Ghost, Archangel, 
Angel, Spirit, etc., etc. 

Frequently we find the prophets and 
seers of Bible history stating they have 
seen God, and that he has given them defi- 
nite verbal instruction on specific matters. 
It is not my desire to cast doubt on the in- 



2 Spiritualism 

tegrity of these people, but I do doubt very 
much their judgment, just the same as I do 
some mediums when I hear them state that 
their chief control is some ancient and re- 
nowned scholar or philosopher, and yet 
every statement they make shows lack of 
both knowledge and philosophy. Such 
cases as these (and they are altogether too 
frequent) make one feel not only doubtful 
as to the identity of the supposed savant, 
but sorry they have degenerated so badly 
as to be absolutely unrecognizable. We 
know life is evolution and progression, just 
as we know there is no such thing as this 
life and the next, but one life, life forever- 
more, whether in this body of flesh, or out 
of it. 

Surely there can be no thinking person 
who wishes to crowd and cramp into human 
form that divinity which permeates all that 
is; that majesty of mind that created all 
that is (and which many of us call God), 
for: 

*' Could 'st thou conceive a God, 
A God he could 'st not be. 
Or thou not man." 



Its Truth 3 

I see the expression of God in all his 
marvelous works better. 

In the flower of the field, 
In the leaf of the tree, 

In the song of the bird, 
In the sigh of the sea ; 

They all one name speak of. 
It is God, unto me. 

My object in quoting from the Bible is 
not to prove through it the infallibility of 
Spiritualism, its truth, helpfulness and 
danger, but to compare extracts therefrom 
with actual experiences of reputable men 
and women of our own day, whose state- 
ments would not be questioned in the high- 
est court of any civilized country. 

I do not intend to tie myself down to 
quoting verbatim. In most cases I shall 
only give the general meaning, but suf- 
ficient data will be supplied in order to 
make it easy for the reader to verify my 
statements. Where time and opportunity 
permit, I recommend doing this, as I be- 
lieve it would be found profitable. 

In your investigation of psychic phe- 
nomena let me suggest that you follow the 



4 Spiritualism 

command of John ; viz. : to test the Spirit, 
for he goes on to say: "Beloved, believe 
not every spirit, but try the spirits whether 
they are of God, because many false 
prophets are gone out into the world." — 
I John, 4. 

Having, I believe, laid a solid foundation, 
and our object being to find the truth, let us 
journey together in honesty of purpose and 
tolerance of opinion. Knowing that we 
each and all have a right to use the brains 
the good Lord has endowed us with, to 
think for ourselves, and to draw our own 
conclusions from the light we have received 
without being domineered by others, and 
bearing in mind that we are in this physi- 
cal expression for a good purpose, and so 
long as we are here we have to do with 
mundane things as well as the Spirit, it is 
our duty to keep our feet on terra firma 
and govern our thoughts and actions by 
plain common sense. 

In quoting the visions as seen and re- 
corded in the Bible, by whatever name they 
may be given there, I shall refer to them 
simply as Spirit, which I believe is their 
proper name. 



Its Truth 5 

baalam's ass sees a spieit and speaks. 

The children of Israel were on the plains 
of Moab in great numbers. For this rea- 
son the Moabites became afraid of them. 
At that time Balak was the King of the 
Moabs, and he sent a message to Balaam, 
begging him to come to him and curse the 
Israelites. On receiving the message 
Balaam went into the Silence to ascertain 
from the Spirit side of life, what his in- 
structions should be regarding the matter, 
and he was requested not to go. Desirous 
of obeying the request and the promptings 
of his own conscience, he returned to the 
messenger and sent word to Balak that he 
could not come. 

Balak was intensely human, and in deep 
anxiety; therefore, on receiving this mes- 
sage it made him all the more determined to 
have Balaam come at all costs and give him 
such help as he believed him capable of. 

So he again sent for him, but this time 
dispatched more important messengers, 
promising him great rewards. They were 
so big they unsettled Balaam, and when 
the second time he went into the Silence 
for advice and instruction, it was in a dif- 



6 Spiritualism 

ferent Spirit and with a desire to oblige 
Balak and incidentally benefit himself. 

Eeturning to the messengers he explained 
apologetically that he could only give what 
was given to him, even though Balak would 
give him his house full of silver and gold. 

Balaam's ass was saddled, and they 
started at once on their journey to visit 
Balak, but Balaam's desires were wavering 
between the wish to please, and to do what 
was plainly his duty ; the result was that as 
they journeyed, a Spirit stood in the way. 
The ass saw it and was afraid. After Ba- 
laam had struck his ass three times, and the 
last time felled it to the ground, Balaam's 
eyes were opened. And he saw the Spirit 
with a sword in its hands, not only that, he 
heard it too, and when the Spirit finished 
telling him what he thought of him and 
what might have happened to him had the 
ass not seen him, I have no doubt Balaam 
was as much afraid as his ass, or more so ; 
in any case, he was ready to go on his mis- 
sion and do as he was told. — Numbers, 
Chaps. 22 and 24. 

This is a typical example of the thing that 
happens today. A person is in trouble 



Its Truth 7 

and decides to go and see a psychic or 
medium. The medium, wanting to be hon- 
est, says: ''I am sorry, but I cannot get 
anything for you," and the client begins 
at once to think: ''How strange it is, you 
got so much for my friend. Now, if you 
will only try again for me I'll give you 
twice or three times your ordinary fee." 
So the medium tries, and after the client 
has been filled with untruths and has 
proved his messages worthless, he usually 
accuses the medium of fraud or fake, but 
seldom ever realizes that he has been en- 
tirely the cause. 

SAUL HAD CAUSED THE MEDIUMS TO BE PUT TO 
DEATH. 

The Philistines had gathered and pitched 
in Shunen. Saul had gathered Israel in 
Gilboa, and was afraid and trembled, for 
he had tried to get advice and failed. He 
had previously been the cause of the me- 
diums being put to death. However, he re- 
quested his servant to get him a woman 
with a familiar Spirit (a medium) that he 
might go and consult her, and his servant 



8 Spiritualism 

said : ' ' There is a woman at Endor. ' ' Saul, 
not wanting to be recognized, disguised 
himself and took two men with liim and 
went to see this woman at night. She being 
a good medium began by telling him what 
Saul had been doing with the mediums, be- 
cause just at that time she was not espe- 
cially anxious to be killed, so he promised 
on his word that he would protect her. 
Then she asked him who he would like to 
see, and he said, ' ' Samuel. ' ' When Samuel 
presented himself she got afraid, and after 
telling Saul his name, asked him why he 
had deceived her. Be it said to his credit 
he did not deny his identity. — I Samuel, 
Chap. 28. 

Although the above incident occutrred 
thousands of years ago, with very little im- 
agination you could easily think you were 
reading your morning paper with an ac- 
count of an attempted exposure of some me- 
dium in New York City last night, for, like 
Saul, these reformers and investigators 
prefer darkness to light ; but it is doubtful 
if they would have been as honest and 
ready to acknowledge their identity as Saul 
was. 



Its Truth 9 

THE CHILDREN OP ISRAEL HAD DONE EVIL 

THEY ASK HELP THE LOED SENDS THEM 

A PROPHET. 

The children of Israel had done evil and 
they had been delivered into the hands of 
the Medeanites; they had made strong- 
holds in the mountains, and after they had 
sown their crops the Medeanites, the 
Amelerites and children from the East 
came and camped against them, and they 
destroyed their crops utterly and did not 
leave a thing for man or beast until they 
came to Gaza. Then these destroyers ar- 
rived there as thick as grasshoppers, and 
their cattle came along with them; having 
this burden to carry made the Israelites 
very poor. Then they did as the average 
man does today when he cannot do any 
more for himself. They asked the Lord to 
help them, and the Lord sent a Prophet, 
and when he got amongst them he com- 
menced by telling them a few of the things 
God had done for them, and reminded 
them of the way they had behaved them- 
selves in return for blessings. I don't 
think they felt very flattered or sang 
for joy while these things were being 



10 Spiritualism 

related, but probably felt better when the 
Prophet had concluded the review. God 
is not a God of Vengeance, but of mercy 
and goodness; therefore, he allowed a 
Spirit to appear to Gideon while he was 
threshing wheat. Gideon was working by 
the wine press, out of sight of the Me- 
deanites, so that they should not steal it. 

Characteristic of all good spirits, this one 
began to give him words of comfort, and 
Gideon showed himself full of questions 
and began to ask the Spirit the whys and 
the wherefores in the same way a New 
Yorker, Londoner or Parisian would about 
something he wanted to be very sure about. 
And whilst he did not want a signed state- 
ment from the Spirit he did ask for a sign. 
— Judges, Chap. 6. 

JEZEBEL HEAES ELIJAH HAD SLAIN THE 

PEOPHETS, AND SENT ELIJAH WOED HE 

WOULD DO THE SAME TO HIM. 

Ahab whilst conversing with Jezebel in- 
formed him how Elijah had slain all the 
Prophets, and it stirred him up very much. 
So he sent a messenger to Elijah saying, 
"Let the Gods do to me and more if I do 



7^5 Truth 11 

not to thee the same things as thou hast 
done to the Prophets by tomorrow about 
the same time. ' ' When Elijah got the mes- 
sage he did what you or I would very prob- 
ably have done — he lost no time in getting 
away to save his life — and he came to Beer- 
sheba, which belonged to Judah, and left 
his servant there, but went on himself a 
day's journey into the wilderness and sat 
down under a juniper tree, as he was both 
tired and depressed. He asked the Lord 
to take away his life, saying, '*! am not 
any better than my Fathers, ' ' He then fell 
asleep. He must have been very faint, for 
a good Spirit came, touched him, awak- 
ened him, and told him to eat; and look- 
ing around he found cake and water ready 
for him. The second time the good Spirit 
awoke him and told him to eat and drink, 
for it was too great a journey for him ; and 
he went in the strength of that meat for 
forty days and hid in a cave. His ex- 
periences there were very wonderful. 
Probably the one most worth while was the 
still small voice which came to him, as it is 
to most of us, if we will only listen and 
heed. — I Kings, Chap. 19. 



12 Spiritualism 

THE axe's head PALLS OFF INTO THE WATER. 

The sons of the Prophets that were with 
Elisha had begun to feel crowded. So they 
came to him and said, ''The place where 
we dwell with thee, it is too strait for us. 
Let us, we pray thee, go to Jordan and build 
a place there where we can dwell." And 
he said, "Go!" 

Then one of them asked Elisha to come 
with them, and he said he would go, and he 
went. When they reached Jordan they 
commenced cutting down wood, and one 
man that was using a borrowed axe let its 
head come off and fall into the water, and 
he was troubled because it was borrowed. 
So he told Elisha about it and took and 
showed him where it had fallen in; then 
Elisha cut off a piece of stick and threw it 
in the same place, and the axe head floated 
to the top so the man could pick it up. 

THE MOUNTAIN" WAS PULL OP HORSES AND 
CHARIOTS OF FIRE. 

The King of Syria was harassing the 
Israelites by warring against them. He 
consulted with his servants from time to 
time and told them where his camp was go- 



Its Truth 13 

ing to be, but somehow the King of Israel 
always seemed to find it out. This troubled 
the King of Syria, to know somebody was 
giving him away. One of his servants in- 
formed him it was Elisha, the Prophet. 
The King ordered him spied upon so he 
could find out where he was and send to 
fetch him. The servant said, "He is at 
Dothan." The King sent horses and 
chariots and a great host, and they encom-; 
passed the city by night, so when Elisha 's 
servant got up early the next morning he 
was surprised to find the city in a state of 
siege, and went to ask his master what they 
should do. Elisha told him not to be 
afraid, because those that were for them 
were more than those against them; and he 
prayed Grod to open the young man's eyes, 
and the Lord opened his eyes and he beheld 
that the mountain was full of horses and 
chariots of fire around about Elisha. Of 
course they were Spirits. — 11 Kings, 
Chap. 6. 

Some time ago I heard one of the most 
able ministers in New York preach on this 
subject. I was much pleased with his ^dew- 
point and especially enjoyed his saying, 
that the Syrians had done the way the 



14 Spiritualism 

world ever does, viz.: based tlieir calcula- 
tions on the material and physical, and left 
out altogether the spiritual side, which was 
always the strongest, hence their failure. 
I heartily agree with him. 

DANIEL SEES A SPIRIT. 

Daniel, who was named Belteshazzar, 
tells us of what he seems to think a strange 
incident about a vision he had, which oc- 
curred in the third year of Cyrus, King of 
Persia. He had been mourning for fully 
three weeks and could not take his food, 
such as bread and meat, and could not 
drink any wine. On the twenty-fourth 
day of the month he was by the side of the 
great river Hiddekel, and when he lifted up 
his eyes he beheld a Spirit clothed in linen, 
his loins girded with fine gold from Up- 
haz. His body was like beryl; his face 
like lightning; his eyes like lamps of fire; 
his arms and feet like polished brass ; and 
his voice like a multitude. Daniel had 
other men with him, but they did not see 
the Spirit. They felt its presence, be- 
came much frightened and ran away and 
hid themselves. — Daniel, Chap. 10. 



Its Truth .15 

There is absolutely nothing unusual in 
Daniel's experience; it is, on the other 
hand, a very common thing that if three or 
four people be seated in a room who have 
the gift of clairvoyance, or clear vision, 
that only one sees the Spirit manifesting 
at the same time. This is the result of na- 
tural laws, for you should know that all 
Spirits cannot manifest through all media, 
and only through such media as vibrate 
in the same key, or are in harmony. 

JOSEPH RECEIVES INSTEUCTIONS FROM A SPIRIT 
IN HIS DREAMS. 

In the progress of calling your attention 
to some of the accounts of visions in the 
scriptures, we now come to a point where 
Joseph and Mary (the mother of Jesus 
Christ), are married. Joseph was much 
troubled about Mary's condition and anx- 
ious to know the best and righteous way of 
acting, for he did not want to make a public 
example of her, and was inclined to put 
her away privately. While he thought of 
these things the Ijord permitted one of his 
messengers, a Spirit, to appear to Joseph 
in a dream and say unto him, ' ' Fear not to 



16 Spiritualism 

take Mary thy wife, for that which is con- 
ceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. She 
shall bring forth a son and thou shalt call 
his name Jesus." 

Whenever we are in perplexity and de- 
sire to act justly, the Divine (call it 
by whatever name may suit our particular 
ideas) never leaves us without guidance or 
comfort, if even a Spirit messenger has 
to be sent for our relief. — St. Matthew, 
Chap. 1. 

TRANSFIGUEATION 

Jesus, the promised son of Mary had 
come, and was busy scattering truth and 
blessings along His path. The time of 
His transfiguration was at hand, and 
taking Peter, James, and John His 
brother, up into a high mountain apart, 
was transfigured before them. His face did 
shine as the sun and His raiment was white 
as the light. And there appeared unto 
them the Spirit of Moses and Elias talking 
with him, and Peter felt it was good to be 
there and wanted to build three taber- 
nacles, one for Jesus, one for Moses and 
one for Elias. — Matthew. Chap. 17. 



Its Truth 17 

JESUS APPEARS TO HIS DISCIPLES. 

The time between the transfiguration and 
crucifixion had not only been crowded with 
untoward events, but filled with effort on 
the part of the Great Master Teacher, to 
make his mission and his teachings clearly 
understood, and at the same time con- 
tinuing to give comfort to the sorrowing, 
and health to those sick of mind and body. 
As the days grew closer to the time of His 
departure, deeper gloom settled upon 
the disciples until the climax was reached. 
When the crucifixion was an accomplished 
fact, and they were as sheep without 
a shepherd, they had been restless days 
and nights, and Mary Magdalene had 
arisen before daylight and gone to the 
sepulchre, and when she got there she 
found the stone rolled away. With- 
out stopping she ran to Simon Peter, 
and the other disciples whom Jesus loved, 
and told them somebody had removed the 
body. They were at a high nervous ten- 
sion, so these two disciples started to run 
to the sepulchre, and you probably remem- 
ber Peter was not a good runner, so his 
friend got there first, then waited until 



18 Spiritualism 

Peter came and they went inside together. 
Mary stood outside weeping and looking 
in, and as she stooped down she saw two 
spirits where the body had lain, and they 
asked her what she was weeping for, and 
she told them. Turning around she saw 
Jesus standing, but she did not know Him, 
but took Him for the gardener until He 
spoke to her. Then she went and told the 
disciples, and that same evening Jesus 
came and appeared to His disciples in a 
room where they were assembled, with the 
doors shut, for fear of the Jews, and He 
stood in their midst and spoke to them, 
showing them His hands and His sides, so 
there should be no mistaking Him. Thomas 
was not with them, but as soon as he came 
they told him the wonderful news; it was 
so wonderful he could not believe, and told 
them so, unless he saw for himself. Eight 
days afterwards the disciples were within 
and Thomas was with them, and Jesus ap- 
peared again; and He told Thomas to put 
his fingers in His hands and his hand in His 
side, and Thomas, with a heart full of ten- 
derness, said: ''My Lord and my God!" 
Oh, that we had more Thomases. Some say 
Thomas had a right to believe his friends. 



Its Truth 19 

I do not think he meant to convey the idea 
that he did not believe their word so much 
as he wanted to convey the idea that under 
their strained condition they might have 
deceived themselves, because immediately 
he saw Christ, those words filled with love, 
faith, gratitude, ''My Lord and my God" 
burst forth; and remember that Thomas 
had never before seen a materialized Spirit. 
After the above incident Jesus showed him- 
self many times to his loved ones. 



CHAPTER II. 

SPIRIT RETURN OF THE BIBLE SUPPLEMENTED 
AND CONFIRMED. 

Let on each Eeader gently fall, 
The wisdom of each Truth to call, 
A treasure all his own ; 
Yet not to keep, but give away 
To all who need, each, every day, 
Long as his Soul shall live. 

In going back as far as possible to show 
the experiences that have occurred to 
various people, I shall try and not weary 
you, or you may feel the same way that an 
old lady did on whom her vicar called, 
hoping to do her good by directing her mind 
to things spiritual, but who instead had so 
wearied her with Bible history that to his 
chagrin she rose to her feet and said, ' * It is 
such a long time since, and so far off, let's 
hope it isn't true." 

After all it is the things near home, the 
things that happen to our friends, our loved 

20 



Its Truth 21 

ones, even though in the eyes of the world 
they be of no account, that influence our 
lives the most as a rule. 



PLATO. 

Plato said; "There are demons, the 
souls of those who have died, and each 
human being has a particular spirit with 
him to be his tutelary and guiding genius 
during his mortal life." 

CROMWELL. 

Oliver Cromwell. Sleeping on his 
couch saw the curtain open and a gigantic 
woman appear, who told him he would be 
the greatest man in England. 

JOAN d'aec. 

The visions of Joan d'Arc are so well 
known that it will be enough to call atten- 
tion to her name. 

SWEDENBOEG. 

Emanuel Swedenborg's experience with 
spirits, as attested by his writings, was 



22 Spiritualism 

more than a passing vision, for at times 
they stayed for days. In 1758 a revolution 
was attempted in Sweden on the twenty- 
third day of July in that year, whilst 
Swedenborg was staying in Stockholm. 
Count Brahe and Baron Horn were exe- 
cuted. 

In his scriptural diary Swedenborg says : 
' ' Brahe was beheaded at ten o 'clock in the 
morning. He spoke with me at ten at night. 
That is to say twelve hours after the exe- 
cution. He was with me almost without 
interruption for several days. ' ' 

SHAKESPEAEE. 

Shakespeare evidently knew the truth of 
spirit return, or the following never would 
have been written : 

Hamlet: ''What hour now?" 

Horatio: ''I think it lacks of twelve.'* 

Hamlet: ''Angels and ministers of grace 
defend us, 
Be thou a spirit of health, or gob- 
lin damned. 



Its Truth 23 

Bring with tliee airs of heaven or 
blasts from hell ; 

Be thy intents wicked or charita- 
ble; 

Thou comest in such questionable 
shape 

That I will speak to thee. ' ' 

Again in Hamlet the stricken murderer 
swears : 

"If I stand here, I who saw liim, 
The times have been, 

That when the brains were out 
the man was dead, and there 
an end ; 

But now they rise again. ' ' 

"There are more things in 
heaven and earth, Horatio, 
than are dreamed of in our 
philosophy. ' ' 

A SPIRIT MAN EUN OVER AND SPIRIT INDIANS 
IN PAINTS AND FEATHERS. 

Amongst the pioneer workers of modern 
spiritualism few, if any, had wider or more 
varied experiences than Emma Harding 
Britten, the world-wide traveler, lecturer 



24 Spiritualism 

and demonstrator of Spirit phenomena. 
She was a lady of culture, education and 
unusual ability, and as many other thinking 
people have done, began the investigation 
of spirit return for the set purpose of ex- 
posing the "horrid stuff," and ended by 
being one of its most worthy and accepted 
exponents. 

From thousands of her marvelous ex- 
periences I have selected one from her auto- 
biography which, from its very freedom 
from the trappings or settings of the ordi- 
nary seance room, I believe will appeal to 
the good judgment of the fair-minded. 

Mrs. Britten had gone to Delphi, Indiana, 
to lecture, and was there the guest of Dr. 
Beck and his wife, and now Mrs. Britten 
shall tell her story in her own words : 

"It was on the morning after my arrival 
at their house that Dr. Beck suggested that 
a drive in the bright summer morning's air 
might dispel the fatigue of last evening's 
lecture and prepare me for another effort 
that night. The doctor himself set off to 
visit his patients in a one-horse buggy, 
assigning the phaeton and a pair of fine 
horses to Mrs. Beck and myself for the pro- 
posed drive. 



Its Truth 25 

''The fine summer morning and the ro- 
mantic scenery of the country in the 
Wabash Eiver district were equally charm- 
ing. At length we came upon a long white 
road with a gentle ascent and thick forests 
on either side. Mrs. Beck informed me that 
the termination of this road was a high 
plateau of rocks, from which we could have 
a splendid view of the Wabash Eiver, with 
its celebrated valley scenery. Whilst she 
was speaking I was looking anxiously for- 
ward along the road, upon which a tall man 
dressed like a carter was standing right in 
the middle of the path we were traversing 
and directly in line with our carriage. ' See 
that man!' I cried, 'Surely he must be 
deaf and does not hear the carriage ap- 
proaching him.' 'Call to him!' I cried 
again and again to the driver, who, how- 
ever, took no notice of what I said. Mean- 
time the horses rushed on at full gallop as 
if they had been lashed to madness, though 
no whip had touched them. I screamed and 
stood up in the carriage, waving my arms 
and shouting frantically, but the man in the 
road never stirred, and the horses, as if 
possessed by fiends, dragged the carriage 



26 Spiritualism 

on at a mad pace, passed over tlie immov- 
able figure and then stopped, panting and 
covered with foam. In an agony of horror 
I jumped froi!n the carriage into the road 
and began to search for the crushed re- 
mains of the victim. All in vain ; there was 
no sign of any such victim, no trace that 
any one had been there. Breathless as I 
was, I still managed to explain to Mrs. Beck 
and the driver what I had seen. Neither of- 
them had beheld the sight so clearly ap- 
parent to me; but when, after their in- 
quiries, I described, as I could do accu- 
rately, the dress and great stature of the 
man I had beheld, both agreed it must have 
been the ghost of one Bill Nye, who was run 
over and killed just at that spot in a terrible 
scene, the particulars of which I was to hear 
on my return home. 

ii 'Why not now?' I asked. 'No, no,' re- 
plied Mrs. Beck, 'we will just drive up to 
the edge of the rocks and then hurry 
home.' As we rode on I still noticed the 
agitation of the horses, and finding that we 
were advancing up a ledge of rocks which 
seemed to terminate in a sheer overhanging 
precipice, I persuaded Mrs. Beck to dis- 
mount with me, and we walked on together 



Its Truth 27 

to the edge of the rocks commanding a most 
enchanting view of the river valley and 
forest land beyond ; but it was not the land- 
scape on which my eye was fastened, but on 
a narrow path far beneath us, little more 
than a bank of earth that ran by the river's 
brink. 

' ' There I saw emerging from a projection 
of rocks at one end of the path a tall Indian 
dressed in war paint and feathers, carrying 
his war hatchet upright in his hand, bow 
and arrows at his back and trotting rather 
than walking or running by the river's side. 

"I cried to Mrs. Beck: 'Look! look! at 
that tall Indian warrior! See! There's 
another, another, a fourth, a fifth ! ' and so 
I went on counting aloud, as if I must do so, 
until I had numbered up to twenty-five. 
'How many did you say I' murmured Mrs. 
Beck in a low, subdued tone. 

" 'Twenty-five, all in single file,' I 
answered. 

" 'Where are they gone?' 

" 'Eound that other mass of projecting 
rock there, there! There go the two last of 
them. Don't you see them?' 

" 'I see nothing,' she replied. 

' ' ' Good heavens ! Why did you not 



28 Spiritualism 

look? They were such a grand hne and 
looked so noble, yet so terrible, in their 
war paint and feathers.' 

" 'Describe them to me.' 

'*I did so, but questioned why she did not 
see them when she was standing so close to 
me. Mrs. Beck replied solemnly: 'Alas! 
my friend, my eyes are not opened into the 
realm of the invisible world as yours are. 
Those whom you beheld were not beings of 
this earth, nor is there any path there now. 
That fatal bank has been broken away and 
the waters flow over it now. Look again ! ' 

"I obeyed and to my amazement found 
there was no path, only the waters of the 
river flowing as if against the foot of the 
rocks, on the top of which we were standing. 
In fewer words than I can write Mrs. Beck 
then informed me that many years before, 
when the white men first discovered and 
came to settle in the Wabash Valley dis- 
trict, there was a tribe of Indians inhab- 
iting a camp on the banks of the river 
beyond the first projection of rocks from 
which I had seen the Spirit warriors 
emerge. 

''They were a fierce and warlike tribe 
and gave the white invaders much trouble, 



Its Truth 29 

disputing, as they well might, the right of 
the stranger to come and possess the lands 
hitherto occupied by their own people. At 
length one of the most influential of the 
white settlers proposed that they should 
hold a conference in a grove on the banks 
of the river, reached by the path which was 
once the line of communication between the 
two rocky points which marked the fishing 
ground of the belligerents. 

''To attend this conference a chosen 
band of twenty-five of the grandest of the 
Indian 'braves' were selected, and these, 
decked in their full insignia of war, trotted, 
as was their custom, one after another in 
single file along the path to the scene of the 
conference; but, alas, for the everlasting 
story of the white man's treachery toward 
what he insolently denominated as "in- 
ferior races,' a band of perfidious mon- 
sters, far more worthy of being called 
'savages' than the hapless aborigines, 
met one after the other as they turned the 
angle of the second group of rocks and 
killed them in cold blood, not staying their 
murderous hands until the last of the 
doomed twenty-five was destroyed. 



30 Spiritualism 

' * The legend affirms that a white man in 
league with the murderers (one Bill Nye) 
was stationed in the road above to prevent 
any approach to the scene of the massacre, 
and that this man, who refused to allow a 
cart and horse to pass the spot where we 
were then standing, was run over and 
killed." 

MY father's vision. 

An experience of my father's, which I 
have often heard him relate, I believe will 
be of interest to all those who are investi- 
gating psychic phenomena. 

My father was a farmer in England, as 
many generations of my forefathers had 
been; he was a man much beloved by rich 
and poor, and, as I remember, his word and 
judgment always carried weight with them. 

The incident occurred before my birth 
and was as follows : I had two half-sisters, 
Mary and Alice, twenty and four years old, 
respectively, who were both stricken with 
scarlet fever and died within a few days of 
each other. Their death was a matter of 
great sorrow to my father, and he mourned 
their loss deeply. At that time the old- 



Its Truth 31 

fashioned, four-post beds with canopy tops 
and curtains of chintz at the head and foot, 
which were drawn around the bed after you 
got in, were in vogue. In such a bed, with 
the curtains tightly drawn, my father was 
lying awake and sorrowing for those whose 
physical forms he would see no more, when 
he beheld what he called a star (bear in 
mind the curtains of the bed were closed) 
approach his window, enter his room, when 
at once a small hand drew the curtains 
aside and there stood Alice, the younger of 
the two, who addressed him, saying: ''Sor- 
row no more. Mary and I are together ; we 
are very happy. ' ' I have heard my father 
state many times that with that experience 
his sorrow for them departed. 

In the light of these later days and with 
our wider experience we have been able to 
give a name to these three distinct phases of 
Spirit return which my father had in this 
manifestation. 

What he called a star we recognize as 
Spirit light, the arms that drew the curtain 
aside and the form that presented itself, as 
materialization, and the voice as Spirit, or 
direct voice. 



32 Spiritualism 

MY FIRST EXPERIENCE WITH SPIRITUALISM. 

In the year 1887 1 was living in Liverpool 
and at that time had never had any experi- 
ence with a public medium, or so-called 
Spiritualists, although psychic powers were 
lying dormant within me, when one day a 
friend who was not a Spiritualist asked me 
* 4f I had ever been to a Spiritualist meet- 
ing," to which I replied, "I never had, as 
I supposed it was a good deal of rot." I 
had a great deal of admiration for the in- 
tellectual power of my friend and expected 
her to confirm my statement, when to my 
surprise she said: ''Well, she didn't know 
about that as she had a friend who went to 
the meetings at Daulby Hall who said they 
did some very marvelous tilings." I at 
once made up my mind that when the op- 
portunity presented itself I should go, and 
it soon came. 

One evening I had been detained later at 
business than usual, and when I started for 
home I found it was one of those dreary, 
wet nights which are not uncommon in Liv- 
erpool, and in going up London road and 
reaching the street where Daulby Hall is 
situated, I remembered it was the night for 



Its Truth 33 

the Spiritualists to hold their meeting, and 
I decided to go and see what was doing. 
When I reached the hall I found the meet- 
ing had been started some time, with about 
two hundred people present, all strangers to 
me and me to them. A medium by the name 
of Mrs. Green was addressing the meeting 
as I went in. I had no sooner taken a 
seat than to my surprise and discomfort she 
said : ' 'I must stop and speak to the gentle- 
man who just came in, ' ' and then proceeded 
to say : ' ^ I see both your father and mother 
with you," and then described them so ac- 
curately that it was absolutely impossible 
for me to doubt their presence. Then she 
went on to say ''They hold a glass of 
milk over your head and if you would 
take a glass of milk about eleven in the 
morning it would relieve the headache from 
which you have been suffering for the past 
three weeks." 

It was true, I had suffered very badly for 
three weeks with headache, but I did not 
like milk and practically had not taken it for 
years, and decided not to for the time being, 
with the result that my headaches con- 
tinued. Eventually I tried the milk and got 
relief. 



34 Spiritualism 

ELLA WHEELER WILCOX 

is quoted as saying : 

''I believe thousands of instances have 
occurred where messages have been re- 
ceived from them (the Spirits), and I have 
no doubt that we are often visited by de- 
parted friends whose presence we vaguely 
feel, but whom we cannot see or hear. 

' ' Since such visitations are our only abso- 
lute proof of a future life, I fail to under- 
stand why religious people cry out against 
a belief in Spirit return. 

''The Bible is full of such occurrences, 
and God's universe is the same today as it 
was in those historic times. 

"Meantime I feel that since the Spirit 
life is the more advanced life, we should not 
intrude upon its higher usefulness by con- 
tinual attempts to bring our friends back to 
earth. Let them make the advances. 

' ' That such messages have been received 
I have no doubt. 

' ' That I myself have received them I am 
confident, but such occurrences have been 
rare, while my investigations have been 
frequent. 

''There is no questioning the fact that 



Its Truth 35 

some people are endowed with what might 
be termed a spiritual telephone, just as 
others have mechanical, musical or mathe- 
matical genius. 

'^But even as the earthly telephone at 
times is unreliable and ^Central' does not 
always make the right connections, so these 
spiritual wires are not always to be relied 
upon. 

''We are scholars in school and we must 
not appeal to the graduates to come back 
from the busy world to give us the answers 
to all life 's problems. 

"I am confident we are all often sur- 
rounded by bands of invisible forces, 
Spirits in various phases of development 
who are interested in our welfare. 

"They are God's messengers, sent to 
cheer and help struggling humanity. ' ' 

AS SHE HAD BEEN" TOLD. 

During 1891 and 1892 I was living in a 
small town in the west of England, and 
made my home in the house of a Mrs. P., 
whom I found to have a most kindly dispo- 
sition and a profound sense of justice. 
Whenever the opportunity presented itself 



36 Spiritualism 

she seemed glad to have me tell her the 
philosophy the Spirit people taught on their 
return, and it seemed to be a great comfort 
to her. During my stay in her house, her 
doctors discovered she had a malignant 
cancer, for which they told her nothing 
could be done and of which she eventually 
died. In the meantime I had been to 
America and had returned to England, and 
when in this little town called upon Mrs. 
P.'s greatest friend, a woman of strong 
mind and ability at the head of the public 
school there, and the following is the inter- 
esting story she told me : Some weeks after 
Mrs. P. had died she woke up one night and 
saw Mrs. P. sitting on a chair by her bed- 
side and smiling at her said : ' 'I have found 
things over here just as Mr. Fletcher used 
to tell us." 



A VISION WHILST IN" MID-ATLANTIC. 

Prior to the above account and whilst liv- 
ing in the house of Mrs. P., one Wednesday 
morning whilst at breakfast I received a 
cable from a friend in Toronto requesting 
me to come at once. I telegraphed a friend 
in Liverpool to secure me a stateroom on 



Its Truth 37 

the first steamer he could sailing to Amer- 
ica. During the day he replied he had got 
me passage on the Umbria, sailing the fol- 
lowing Saturday, and on her I sailed. The 
following Tuesday after lunch I became 
very sleepy and retired to my stateroom and 
soon was fast asleep. On suddenly awaken- 
ing, to my surprise, there stood looking at 
me and smiling the lady I was going to 
Toronto to see. I knew she had died and 
that I should never again see her in the 
body. When mutual friends met me at To- 
ronto they said, "We have bad news for 
you." I said, ''Yes, I know; when did she 
die?" They said, "Tuesday." When we 
compared notes and made allowance for 
the difference of time, we found I had seen 
her as soon as she had passed away. 

A GENTLEMAN I HAD LONG KNOWN IN EUEOPE 

IS DESCEIBED ACCURATELY TO ME AS A 

SPIRIT BY A STRANGER IN A FAR 

WESTERN CITY OF AMERICA. 

On my second visit to America in Febru- 
ary, 1895, soon after my arrival in New 
York I decided to go to one of the large 
western cities on some matters of business 



38 Spiritualism 

I deemed I could do better than by writing. 
Whilst there I made the acquaintance of a 
family, who, finding I was a stranger in the 
city, invited me to call upon them. I did so 
several times, and whilst calling one even- 
ing, to the surprise of my hostess, a friend 
of hers and his wife from New York, who 
had arrived in the city that afternoon, 
called upon her. As they entered her 
parlor I rose and was introduced. No 
sooner had our names been given than be- 
fore either or any of us could sit down this 
stranger said: ''Pardon me, sir, I see a 
gentleman standing by your side. He 
wears a uniform." And he proceeded to 
describe the uniform. ' ' Oh, yes, he says his 

name is , and he says he died at 

and is buried at a long distance 

from where he died and will you please give 

a message to . ' ' I said, ' ' No, I will 

not." 

The man who gave me this wonderful 
demonstration of Spirit return I never saw 
before or since; he was unfortunately a 
man of little education and seemed puzzled 
by the strange names of the places and cir- 
cumstances he was giving me. However, I 
was personally acquainted with every de- 



Its Truth 39 

tail, and my reason for flatly refusing to 
give the message which the Spirit had re- 
quested me to do many times, through 
varied media in England, was that it 
seemed then, as it does now, impossible to 
do so. As I write these words this same 
Spirit says, ^'It was not; neither is it im- 
possible." However, I think differently. 

I have purposely concealed the name of 
the city and the home where this message 
was given to me, as well as the name of the 
Spirit, the place of his death and burial, 
because the spirit was very prominent and 
well known all over the civilized world, and 
I deemed it unwise that the names, etc., 
etc., should be given, knowing too well the 
ridicule the dragging in of prominent 
names generally brings. 

A SPIRIT SISTER IS DESCRIBED TO A FRIEIS^D. 

With the passing of time I made a busi- 
ness connection with a firm in New York 
City, and whilst this business kept me in 
the city during the day, I made my home 
at Yonkers, on the Hudson, with a delight- 
ful family, who with the rolling years have 
become my permanent friends. It was a 



40 Spiritualism 

frequent thing for me to have guests from 
the city to stay over the week end. On these 
occasions I made it a rule not to mention 
my knowledge of Spirit return or my 
psychic gifts unless I was satisfied it would 
be interesting to my guest. One week end 
I had a guest whom I had known some time, 
but to whom I had never mentioned this 
subject. During the evening an old and 
dear friend called to see me to whom 
Spiritualism has been practically his very 
life for the past thirty-five years, and he 
has talked it in season and out and has 
never been able to understand people who 
were not ready to accept it at once. He at 
once did what was perfectly natural for 
him, by asking my guest ''If he was a 
Spiritualist." My guest replied in a way 
that was perfectly natural to him, but very 
shocking to my friend by saying: "Why, 
no ; I don't believe in that kind of rot. ' ' My 
caller then said ''He was surprised he 
should say such a thing in my presence," 
to which my guest replied by turning to me 
and saying, "Why, surely you do not be- 
lieve in it ? " In answer I assured him I did 
and that if he did not I would tell what I 
saw at that very moment, and I proceeded 



Its Truth 41 

to describe in detail a lady I saw standing- 
near him. At first lie seemed unable to rec- 
ognize the description. Then the Spirit, 
turning her head to the right, put her finger 
on her neck under her left ear and showed 
me a large brown birthmark, which I called 
his attention to, whereupon he shouted; 
"Stop! That is my sister, who has been 
dead for some years, and I do not like it, 
because it makes me feel queer and I do 
not want to talk any more about it. " I 
did not know he had a sister dead and 
whilst he said he did not want to talk any 
more about it, yet he kept referring to the 
subject and kept me from my bed until 
2 A. M. 

A SPIEIT WHO HAD BEEN SHOT IK THE HEAD. 

During the Spanish- American War I was 
invited one evening to dine at the home of 

a Mr. and Mrs. , at Mount Vernon, 

N. Y. I knew they had two sons at college, 
but I had never met them. During the din- 
ner I asked if either of their sons had gone 
to the war. They said, ''No; why do you 
ask?" I did not wish to tell them for my 
reason was a very unpleasant one. I had 



42 Spiritualism 

seen lying on the ground dead a young man 
with a wound in his head, which I realized 
was from a gunshot, and as it was shown 
in connection with my host and hostess I 
felt it possibily might be one of their sons. 
However, as they pressed me to tell them 
what I had seen, and realizing that they 
were people of good sense and large per- 
sonal experience of this kind of phenomena, 
I told them. Naturally they were at a loss 
to understand its meaning, which, however, 
was made clear to them the second day 
after my visit by a telephone call from 

honkers, requesting Mrs. to come 

over at once to one of her friends. She 
drove over as quickly as possible, and on 
her arrival found her friend in a paroxysm 
of sorrow, for she had just got the news 
that her son, who had gone to Maine with 
his father and a party of friends to hunt big 
game, had been mistaken for game and shot 
in the head and killed by one of the party. 

A SPIKIT FEOM LIVEEPOOL. 

One day whilst calling on a psychic in 
New York City, she said, "There is a 
woman here who says her name is Mary 



Its Truth 43 

Heppy." I said, "Tell her I do not know 
her." She replied, ''She says you know 
her very well and that she has been dead 
three weeks. ' ' I said, ' ' Tell her she 's mis- 
taken." "She says she is not." "How does 
she spell her name?" "Mary Heapy." 
' ' Oh, of course, I know Mary Heapy, and is 
she dead?" "Yes." I knew two of Mrs. 
Heapy 's nephews very well and had spent 
in their company many happy times at her 
house in the suburbs of Liverpool. I wrote 
one of her nephews asking about her and 
got her statement confirmed that she had 
been dead three weeks, as she had stated 
to me in New York Qiij. 

So numerous incidents of Spirit return 
could be given as a result of experience by 
sober, level-headed people whose word 
would not be questioned on any other 
subject. 

If you are a doubter I, like every right- 
thinking man, have respect for your honest 
doubt, for remember what Tennyson says : 
"There lives more faith in honest doubt, 
Believe me, than in half the creeds. ' ' 
But if you should be a scoffer, a man who 
sneers and scoffs at what you know nothing 
about, I have no respect and would say, 



44 Spiritualism 

don't you think you would do well to stop 
and ask yourself what reputable men and 
women have to gain by making statements 
that are not true or that will not stand in- 
vestigation? And if you are honest with 
yourself I feel sure you will reach but one 
conclusion and at the same time realize that 
after a subject has been so tabooed as this 
has that it takes more than ordinary cour- 
age to voice it at all, unless you are pre- 
pared to lose caste or that truth is of more 
value to you than social standing. Yet let 
me say to you that many who in their 
social gathering sneer at and treat lightly 
these facts, privately are anxious to get as 
much comfort from them as they can. 



CHAPTER III. 

Spirit Lights and Voices. 

In the night of darkness 
The light of heaven falls, 

And Spirit Voices whisper 
Undying truth to tell. 

Perhaps in the whole experience of man- 
kind with spirit lights and voices, none is 
more remarkable than that of Moses, the 
record of which is as follows and will be 
found in Exodus III, 1-6: 

THE BUENING BUSH. 

''Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro, 
his father-in-law, the priest of Midian : and 
he led the flock to the back side of the 
desert, and came to the mountain of God, 
even to Horeb. 

''And the Angel of the Lord appeared 
unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst 
of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the 
bush burned with fire, and the bush was not 
consumed. 

45 



46 Spiritualism 

''And Moses said, I will now turn aside, 
and see this great sight, why the bush is 
not burnt. 

"And when the Lord saw that he turned 
aside to see, Grod called unto him out of the 
midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses ! 
And he said. Here am I ! 

''And he said. Draw not nigh hither: 
put off thy shoes from thy feet; for the 
place whereon thou standest is holy 
ground. 

"Moreover he said, I am the God of thy 
father, the God of Abraham, the God of 
Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses 
hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon 
God." 

If the reader will turn to the previous 
chapter he will see that when my sister ap- 
peared to my father she first appeared as 
a star of light, and afterwards spoke by the 
direct voice. 



THE CHILDKEN OP ISKAEL LED WITH A PILLAE 
OF FIKE BY NIGHT. 

Again Moses and the children of Israel 
have experience of Spirit light, and this 
time it is for guidance. 



Its Truth 47 

"And they took their journey from Suc- 
coth, and encamped in Etham, in the edge 
of the wilderness. 

"And the Lord went before them by day 
in a pillar of clond, to lead them the way; 
and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them 
light ; to go by day and night. 

"He took not away the pillar of cloud by 
day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from 
before the people. "—Exodus XIH, 20-22. 

SAUL BLIi^DED BY SPIEIT LIGHT, 

Saul was on his way to Damascus to per- 
secute the Christians when he saw a bright 
Spirit light and heard a Spirit voice. The 
light was so bright that it blinded him for 
three days, and the command of the voice 
carried such power that when Saul received 
his sight he was a changed man. 

"And Saul, yet breathing out threaten- 
ings and slaughter against the disciples of 
the Lord, went unto the high priest, 

"And desired of him letters to Damascus 
to the synagogues, that if he found any of 
this way, whether they were men or women, 
he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. 



48 Spiritualism 

''And as he journeyed, lie came near 
Damascus: and suddenly there shined 
around him a light from heaven : 

"And he fell to the earth, and heard a 
voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why per- 
secutest thou me? 

"And he said, Who art thou. Lord? And 
the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou per- 
secutest : it is hard for thee to kick against 
the pricks. 

"And he, trembling and astonished, 
said, Lord what will thou have me to do? 
And the Lord said unto him. Arise, and 
go into the city, and it shall be told thee 
what thou must do. 

' ' And the men which journeyed with him 
stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing 
no man. 

"And Saul rose from the earth; and 
when his eyes were opened, he saw no man : 
but they led him by the hand, and brought 
him into Damascus. 

"And he was three days without sight, 
and neither did eat nor drink. 

"And there was a certain disciple at 
Damascus, named Ananias ; and to him said 
the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, 
Behold, I am here, Lord."— Acts IX, 1-10. 



Its Truth 49 

I can fully understand the brightness of 
the light this Spirit gave to Saul, blinding 
him for three days, for on several occa- 
sions I have seen Spirit so bright with 
spirituahty it was difficult to gaze upon it. 

A BEIGHT LIGHT AND A VOICE SAYING, THIS IS 
MY BELOVED SON. 

It was the time of the transfiguration 
and the hearts of Peter, James and John 
had been deeply touched, when the impul- 
sive Peter asked the Master if they could 
build there three tabernacles, and while he 
yet spake, behold, a bright cloud over- 
shadowed them : and behold, a voice out of 
the cloud, which said: This is my beloved 
Son in whom I am well pleased; hear ye 
him.— St. Matthew, 17, 5. 



A VOICE FKOM HEAVEN. 

Jesus had just raised Lazarus from the 
dead and many Jews had come to Bethany, 
not only for the sake of Jesus, but to see 
Lazarus; and the chief priests had con- 
sulted that they might put Lazarus also to 
death, because by reason of him many had 



50 Spiritualism 

believed on Jesus. On the next day much 
people were come to the feast. When they 
heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, 
they took branches of palm trees and went 
forth to meet Him. The soul of Jesus was 
troubled, and He said, what shall I say? 
Father, save Me from this hour; but for 
this cause came I unto this hour. Father, 
glorify Thy name. Then came there a voice 
from Heaven saying : I have both glorified 
it and will glorify it again. — St. John, 12th 
Chapter. 

I believe that if we examine the records 
of voices and visions, that we shall find that 
they come chiefly when our hearts are 
troubled, and that they are given for com- 
fort, or instruction, and often both, as in 
the case that follows : 



"And the apostles and brethren that 
were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had 
also received the word of God. 

"And when Peter was come up to Jeru- 
salem, they that were of the circumcision 
contended with him, 



Its Truth 51 

* ' Saying, Thou wentest in to men uncir- 
cumcised, and didst eat with them. 

*'But Peter rehearsed the matter from 
the beginning, and expounded it by order 
unto them, saying, 

''I was in the city of Joppa praying: and 
in a trance I saw a vision, a certain vessel 
descend, as it had been a great sheet, let 
down from heaven by four corners ; and it 
came even to me: 

"Upon the which when I had fastened 
mine eyes, I considered, and saw fourf ooted 
beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and 
creeping things, and fowls of the air. 

"And I heard a voice saying unto me, 
Arise, Peter ; slay and eat. ' ' — Acts XI, 1-7. 

THE CALL OF SAMUEL 

"And the child Samuel ministered unto 
the Lord before Eli. And the word of 
the Lord was precious in those days ; there 
was no open vision. 

"And it came to pass at that time, when 
Eli was laid down in his place, and his 
eyes began to wax dim, that he could not 
see; 

"And ere the lamp of God went out in 
the temple of the Lord, where the ark of 



52 Spiritualism 

God was, and Samuel was laid down to 
sleep ; 

"That the Lord called Samuel; and he 
answered, Here am I. 

''And he ran unto Eli, and said, Here 
am I ; for thou callest me. And he said, I 
called not; lie down again. And he went 
and lay down. 

''And the Lord called yet again, Samuel. 
And Samuel arose and went to Eli, and 
said. Here am I; for thou didst call me. 
And he answered, I called not, my son ; lie 
down again. 

"Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, 
neither was the word of the Lord yet re- 
vealed unto him. 

"And the Lord called Samuel again the 
third time. And he arose and went to Eli, 
and said. Here am I; for thou didst call 
me. And Eli perceived that the Lord had 
called the child. 

"Therefore Eli said unto Samuel, Go, 
lie down; and it shall be, if he call thee, 
that thou shall say. Speak, Lord; for thy 
servant heareth. So Samuel went and lay 
down in his place. 

"And the Lord came, and stood, and 
called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. 



Its Truth 53 

Then Samuel answered, Speak; for thy 
servant heareth." — I Samuel III, 1-10. 

THE BOW 

Ezekiel has one of his wonderful visions, 
and he says: ''As the appearance of the 
bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, 
so was the appearance round about. This 
was the appearance of the likeness of 
the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, 
I fell upon my face and I heard a voice of 
One that spake. "—Ezekiel 1, 28. 

THE DAY OP PENTECOST 

"And when the day of Pentecost was 
fully come, they were all with one accord in 
one place. 

"And suddenly there came a sound from 
heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it 
filled all the house where they were sitting. 

"And there appeared unto them cloven 
tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each 
of them. 

"And they were all filled with the Holy 
Ghost, and began to speak with other 
tongues, as the Spirit gave them utter- 
ance." — Acts II, 1-4. 



CHAPTER IV. 

MATERIALIZATION AND PHYSICAL MANIFESTA- 
TIONS. 

This phase of spiritual phenomena to me 
is the least pleasing, however, that is not 
the question, but is it true? And to those 
who have taken the time and trouble to in- 
vestigate, there can be no doubt of its 
reality. That in the past there have been 
people caught faking and that in the future 
there may be others caught faking this 
wonderful phenomena carries no weight 
one way or other, especially when in the 
presence and under such careful investi- 
gators and scientists as Sir William 
Crooks, Sir Oliver Lodge, Eussell, Wallace, 
etc., such phenomena has been acknowl- 
edged to be a fact. 

We shall again see what the Bible has to 
say on the subject and what present-day ex- 
periences proves and then leave you to draw 
your own conclusions. 

To those who have ever seen genuine ma- 
54 



Its Truth 55 

terialization, I believe they will fully under- 
stand what has been said in chapter three 
about Spirit light, as it very often precedes 
the materialized form. 

Perhaps there is no incident more fulfill- 
ing the statement ^'that God is not 
mocked" than the following: 

belshazzar's feast 

"Belshazzar, the King, made a great 
feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank 
wine before the thousand. 

''Belshazzar, while he tasted the wine, 
commanded to bring the golden and silver 
vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar 
had taken out of the temple which was in 
Jerusalem; that the king and his princes, 
his wives, and his concubines, might drink 
therein. 

"Then they brought the golden vessels 
that were taken out of the temple of the 
house of God which was at Jerusalem ; and 
the king and his princes, his wives, and his 
concubines, drank in them. 

' ' They drank wine, and praised the gods 
of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of 
wood, and of stone. 



56 Spiritualism 

"In the same hour came forth fingers of 
a man's hand, and wrote over against the 
candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of 
the king's palace; and the king saw the 
part of the hand that wrote. 

"Then the king's countenance was 
changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so 
that the joints of his loins were loosened 
and his knees smote one against another. 

"The king cried aloud to bring in the 
astrologers, the Chaldeans and the sooth- 
sayers. And the king spake, and said to 
the wise men of Babylon, Whosoever shall 
read this writing, and shew me the inter- 
pretation thereof, shall be clothed with 
scarlet, and have a chain of gold about his 
neck, and shall be the third ruler in the 
kingdom." — Daniel V, 1-7. 

MATEKIALIZED HANDS 

If my memory sei-ves me correctly, it 
was in the fall of 1895. I was in Boston 
and visited the temple built by Mr. Eyers 
for the use of Spiritualists. Mr. Frederick 
Keeler, a noted medium, now living in 
Washington, D. C, was giving demonstra- 
tions of his gifts, and not only did I see one 



Its Truth 57 

hand that was materialized pushed through 
a curtain, but dozens, and all sizes, and, 
like the hand at Belshazzar's feast, they 
wrote, but upon a pad that was held for 
them, and many of the messages were ac- 
knowledged as correct by the people they 
were for. 



JACOB WRESTLETH WITH AN ANGEL 

''And Jacob went on his way, and the 
angels of God met him. 

''And when Jacob saw them, he said, this 
is God's host; and he called the name of 
that place Mahanaim. 

"And Jacob sent messengers before him 
to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, 
the country of Edom. 

"And Jacob was left alone; and there 
wrestled a man with him until the breaking 
of the day. 

"And when he saw that he prevailed not 
against him, he touched the hollow of his 
thigh and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was 
out of joint, as he wrestled with him. 

"And he said, Let me go, for the day 
breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee 
go, except thou bless me. 



58 Spiritualism 

''And lie said unto him, what is thy 
name? And he said, Jacob. 

*'And he said. Thy name shall be called 
no more Jacob, but Israel, for as a prince 
hast thou power with God and with men, 
and hast prevailed. 

''And Jacob asked him, and said: Tell 
me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said. 
Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my 
name? And he blessed him there. 

''And Jacob called the name of the place 
Peniel : for I have seen God face to face and 
my life is preserved." — Genesis 32, 1-3, 
24-30. 



AN OKIENTAL MATERIALIZES 

On one occasion, a number of others 
and I, who were investigating this phase 
of phenomena, were invited to the home of 
a Mr. Buchanon, who lived on Hawthorne 
Avenue, Yonkers, to a seance to be given 
by a Mr. Concanon, a small, fragile-look- 
ing man. As we were anxious not to be 
deceived and specially did not want to de- 
ceive ourselves, we took the precaution to 
take this man into a side room and have 
him disrobe entirely and put on a suit we 



Its Truth 59 

had provided — then, taking him into a 
cabinet which had been improvised, tied 
him in a chair, put his bare feet in a pan 
of flour, and after putting rice in both 
hands, nailed him by the trouser legs to 
the floor. Afterward, we took our seats 
and waited only a short time before 
the manifestations began. Presently a 
spirit whom I had frequently been told 
through and by various media in England 
and in this country, was one of my spirit 
helpers, stepped out of the cabinet and 
asked for me, and after announcing who he 
was began to speak very rapidly and very 
fluently in a foreign tongue. I shall never 
forget the powerful grasp of his hand. 
I am sure he could have lifted me up from 
the floor with one of them. Then, again,* 
he was a magnificent specimen of man in 
size, for he must have stood 6 feet 6 inches 
whereas the medium was short and small. 
Later another spirit came and asked 
for me, and this time I recognized at 
once my fiance who had passed away a 
few years before. Of course, the other 
guests had friends materialize that they 
could vouch for. 



60 Spiritualism 

Now how had the precautions worked 
that we had taken ? When the cabinet was 
opened there was our man sitting as we had 
tied and nailed him. As there was not a 
grain of rice or a foot print of flour on 
the floor, he could not have moved his feet 
or opened his hands. 

EZEKIEL SEES A HAND AND A BOOK. 

Ezekiel, in the first chapter of his book, 
had described in his wonderfully flowery 
imagery and poetic way, one of his marvel- 
ous visions and a commission he had re- 
ceived to go to the Children of Israel, who 
had become rebellious, and bear a certain 
message to them. Evidently Ezekiel real- 
ized what lay before him and did not spe- 
cially fancy the task, for in the second 
chapter and 6th, 7th, 8th and 91;h verses 
he is further instructed. 

*'And thou, son of man, be not afraid of 
them, neither be afraid of their words, 
though briers and thorns be with thee, and 
thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not 
afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at 
their looks, though they be a rebellious 
house. 



Its Truth 61 

"And thou shalt speak my words unto 
them, whether they will forbear: for they 
are most rebellious. 

''But thou, son of man, hear what I say 
unto thee : Be not thou rebellious like that 
rebellious house ; open thy mouth, and eat 
that I give thee. 

"And when I looked, behold, a hand was 
sent unto me ; and lo, a roll of a book was 
therein. ' ' — Ezekiel, 2 Chap., 6th-9th verses. 

JESUS MATEEIALIZED 

Once again let me call your attention to 
the great Brother and Teacher, Jesus 
Christ. 

It was after some of his loved ones had 
been to his grave and found it empty that 
he materialized to two of them, as the fol- 
lowing beautiful record of 24th Chapter of 
St. Luke shows, beautiful, and to me espe- 
cially beautiful with its blending and inter- 
weaving of the human and divine, the hu- 
man suffering and sorrow, and the divine 
love and sympathy and blessing : 

"And behold, two of them went that 
same day to a village called Emmaus, 



62 Spiritualism 

which was from Jerusalem about three 
score furlongs. 

''And they talked together of all these 
things which had happened. 

*'And it came to pass that, while they 
communed together and reasoned, Jesus 
Himself drew near, and went with them. 

''But their eyes were holden that they 
should not know him. 

"And He said unto them, what manner 
of communications are these that ye have 
one to another, as ye walk, and are sad? 

"And the one of them, whose name was 
Cleopas, answering, said unto Him, Are 
Thou only a stranger in Jerusalem and 
hast not known the things which are come 
to pass there in these days? 

"And He said unto them. What things! 
And they said unto Him, Concerning Jesus 
of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty 
in deed and word before God and all the 
people. 

"And how the chief priests and our 
rulers delivered Him to be condemned to 
death and have crucified Him. 

"But we trusted that it had been He 
which should have redeemed Israel: and 
beside all this, today is the third day since 
these things were done. 



Its Truth 63 

'*Yea, and certain women also of our 
company made ns astonislied, which were 
early at the sepulchre. 

''And when they found not His body 
they came saying that they had also seen a 
vision of angels, which said that He was 
alive. 

''And certain of them which were with 
us went to the sepulchre and found it even 
so as the women had said, but Him they 
saw not. 

"Then He said unto them, fools, and 
slow of heart to believe all that the 
prophets have spoken: 

' ' Ought not Christ to have suffered these 
things and to enter into His glory? 

"And beginning at Moses and all the 
prophets He expounded unto them in all 
the Scriptures the things concerning Him- 
self. 

"And they drew nigh unto the village, 
whither they went. And He made as 
though He would have gone further. 

"But they constrained Him, saying. 
Abide with us ; for it is toward evening, and 
the day is far spent. And He went in to 
tarry with them. 

"And it came to pass, as He sat at meat 



64 Spiritualism 

with them, he took bread and blessed it, 
and brake, and gave to them. 

''And their eyes were opened and they 
knew him; and he vanished out of their 
sight. 

''And they said one to another, did not 
our heart burn within us while he talked 
with us by the way, and while he opened to 
us the Scriptures? 

"And they rose up the same hour and re- 
turned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven 
gathered together, and them that were with 
them, 

"Saying the Lord is risen indeed, and 
hath appeared to Simon. 

"And they told what things were done in 
the way, and how he was known of them in 
breaking of bread. 

"And as they thus spake Jesus Himself 
stood in the midst of them and saith unto 
them. Peace be unto you. ' ' 

I suggest you read the whole chapter. 

A MATERIALIZED SPIEIT AWAKENS PETER AND 
LEADS HIM OUT OF PRISON. 

I now call your attention to a physical 
manifestation by Spirit, showing what the 



Its Truth 65 

great creative spirit can do when it is neces- 
sary or desirable to protect men from their 
fellow men ; and that power is the same to- 
day as it was in days of old. 

Herod was King, and he fell in line with 
what was the fashion in his day, viz. : to 
persecute the Christians. He had killed 
James, the brother of John, which had 
pleased certain of the people, and being 
anxious to gain still greater favor, he had 
Peter arrested and put in prison (it was 
the days of unleavened bread), but after 
Easter he intended to bring him forth to 
the people : 

''And when he had apprehended him he 
put him in prison and delivered him to four 
quaternions of soldiers to keep him ; intend- 
ing after Easter to bring him forth to the 
people. 

''Peter therefore was kept in prison; but 
prayer was made without ceasing of the 
church unto God for him. 

"And when Herod would have brought 
him forth the same night Peter was sleep- 
ing between two soldiers, bound with two 
chains, and the keepers before the door 
kept the prison. 



66 Spiritualism 

''And behold, the angel of the Lord 
came upon him, and a light shined in the 
prison ; and he smote Peter on the side and 
raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. 
And his chains fell off from his hands. 

"And the angel said unto him, Gird thy- 
self and bind on thy sandals. And so he 
did. And he saith unto him, Oast thy gar- 
ment about thee and follow me. 

''And he went out, and followed him; 
and wist not that it was true which was 
done by the angel; but thought he saw a 
vision. 

"When they were past the first and sec- 
ond ward, they came unto the iron gate that 
leadeth unto the city, which opened to them 
of its own accord, and they went out and 
passed on through one street, and forthwith 
the angel departed from him. 

"And when Peter was come to himself, 
he said. Now I know of a surety that the 
Lord hath sent His angel and hath deliv- 
ered me out of the hand of Herod and from 
all the expectation of the people of the- 
Jews. 

"And when he had considered the thing 
he came to the house of Mary, the mother 



Its Truth 67 

of John ,wliose surname was Mark; where 
many were gathered together praying. 

'^ And as Peter knocked at the door of the 
gate a, damsel came to hearken, named 
Rhoda. 

'^And when she knew Peter's voice, she 
opened not the gate for gladness, but ran in, 
and told how Peter stood before the gate. 

'^And they said unto her. Thou art mad. 
But she constantly affirmed that it was even 
so. Then they said, it is his angel. 

''But Peter continued knocking, and 
when they had opened the door and saw 
him they were astonished. 

"But he, beckoning unto them with the 
hand to hold their peace, declared unto them 
how the Lord had brought him out of the 
prison. And he said, Go, show these things 
unto James, and to the brethren. And he 
departed, and went into another place. 

"Now as soon as it was day, there was no 
small stir among the soldiers, what was be- 
come of Peter."— Acts 12, 4-18. 

Dr. Marden in one of his helpful books 
calls this sort of thing, "Working for one 
thing and expecting something else." 
Peter's friends had been praying for his 



68 Spiritualism 

deliverance from Herod, and yet the thing 
seemed to them so unlikely and improbable 
that when it was accomplished, at first they 
were so surprised that they did not believe 
it. The Great Master Spirit is constantly 
doing for us beyond our ken, and whilst nb 
one would doubt the goodness of heart, life 
and purpose of these friends of Peter, yet 
it is self-evident they had not the remotest 
idea of the power of the Spirit, which is 
absolutely irresistible. 

GIRL IS CAEEIED IN A CHAIR WITHOUT HUMAN 
AGENCY. 

''A report by Gen. Bullard of a seance 
held with a little daughter of Mr. Alwood, 
of Troy, N. Y., is of peculiar interest. He 
was induced to attend by a clergyman, and 
the party was joined by four other eminent 
men. While the little girl sat in her high 
chair, her tiny feet resting on the foot- 
board, she was lifted and carried about as 
a feather blown by the wind. The heavy 
table around which we were seated rocked, 
while loud raps resounded from various 
parts of the room, and spelled out names 
and dates and messages, identifying de- 



Its Truth 69 

parted friends of the sitters. And as they 
were about to adjourn, a message was given 
from Gen. Bullard's deceased brother. 
Then he thought as a test, 'If it is my 
brother, move the medium in her chair 
toward me.' His idea was to have her 
moved a little way; but she was carried 
around the table and sat by his side almost 
instantaneously. Then Gen. Bullard started 
up, exclaiming, 'By heavens, it is all 
true!' " 

D. D. HOME AND SIR WILLIAM CEOOKS. 

''The most startling manifestations on 
record have occurred through the medium- 
ship of D. D. Home in a light sufficient to 
make objects plainly visible. On one occa- 
sion Sir William Crooks placed an ac- 
cordion in a wire cage into which Mr. Home 
passed his hand, holding the instrument by 
its base. It then played exquisite tunes in 
sight of the circle, without visible hands 
touching the keys. He then withdrew his 
hand and it continued to play, suspended 
in the cage. We learn by this well-attested 
fact that a wire cage is no obstruction to 
the passage of spirit force, and hence a cage 



70 Spiritualism 

adjusted over a medmm cannot in any way 
impair the 'conditions/ " 



FLORENCE COOK AND SIR WILLIAM CROOKS. 

In his, Sir William Crooks', book ''Re- 
searches in the Phenomena of Spirit- 
ualism, ' ' he states his conviction of the fact 
of an intercommunion between the two 
worlds. In his investigation of Spiritual- 
ism, Sir William Crooks was visited by 
many mediums. At one time, when the 
noted medium, Florence Cook, was at his 
house, he says: 

"On one occasion, for nearly two hours, 
Katie walked about the room conversing 
familiarly with those present. Several 
times she took my arm when walking, and 
the impression was conveyed to my mind 
that it was a living woman by my side, in- 
stead of a visitor from the other world." 
He then describes how he clasped her in his 
arms and found her as material a being as 
the medium herself. He also tells us that 
he took several flashlight photographs of 
his mysterious friend, and that on one of 
these occasions "Katie muffled her me- 



Its Truth 71 

dium's head up in a shawl to prevent the 
light falling upon her face. ' ' 

'*It was a common thing," he adds, "for 
seven or eight of us in the laboratory to see 
the medium and Katie at the same time 
under the full blaze of the electric light." 

A SPIRIT PLAYS AN ACCORDION. 

''A phantom form came from the corner 
of the room, took an accordion in its hand 
and then glided about the room playing the 
instrument. The form was visible to all 
present for many minutes, the medium also 
being seen at the same time. Coming rather 
close to a lady who was sitting apart from 
the rest of the company, she gave a slight 
cry, upon which it vanished. ' ' 

SIR WILLIAM CROOKS AND DIRECT WRITING. 

Describing his experiences with direct 
writing, Sir William says; ''A luminous 
hand came down from the upper part of 
the room, and after hovering near me for a 
few seconds, took the pencil from my hands, 
rapidly wrote on a sheet of paper, threw 
the pencil down and then rose up over our 



72 Spiritualism 

heads, gradually fading into the darkness." 
'M would again remind my readers," he 
adds, ' ' that what I relate has not been ac- 
complished at the house of a medium, but in 
my own house, where preparations have 
been quite impossible. 

"A medium walking into my dining room 
cannot, while seated in one part of the room 
with a number of persons keenly watching 
him, by trickery, make an accordion play in 
my own hand when I hold it, keys down- 
ward, or cause the same accordion to float 
about the room playing all the time ; he can- 
not introduce machinery which will wave 
window curtains or pull up Venetian blinds 
eight feet off; tie a knot in a handkerchief 
and place it in a far corner of the room; 
sound notes on a distant piano; cause a 
card plate to float about the room; raise a 
water bottle and tumbler from the table; 
make a coral necklace rise on end; cause a 
fan to move about and fan the company ; or 
set in motion a pendulum when enclosed in 
a glass case firmly cemented to the wall." 

MOVING OF MATERIAL THINGS BY SPIRITS. 

Torquato Tasso, an Italian poet, was 
both helped and tormented by the spirits. 



Its Truth 73 

The following is what he wrote to a friend : 
' ' This day, being the last but one of the 
year, the brother of the Eev. Licino has 
brought me two letters from Vostra Sig- 
noria, but one disappeared after I had read 
it, and I think the Spirit (il folletto) has 
carried it away, because it is that letter in 
which he is mentioned. This is one of 
those miracles which I have frequently seen 
in the hospital (of St. Ann, which was his 
prison), on which account I feel certain 
that it is the work of some sorcerer (mago) 
and I have many other proofs of it, but par- 
ticularly of a roll of bread taken from 
before me, visibly, half an hour before sun- 
set (a ventrite ore) ; of a plate of fruit 
taken from before me the other day when 
that amiable young Pole so worthy of ad- 
miration came to see me, and of several 
other articles of food to which at other 
times the same thing occurred when no one 
entered my prison; of a pair of gloves, of 
letters, and of books taken out of boxes 
that were shut and found on the ground in 
the morning, and others that were never 
found, and I know not what became of 
them." 



74 Spiritualism 

PAINTING BY SPIRITS. 

There lived in Glasgow, Scotland, a man 
by the name of Duiguid. He was a remark- 
able man, with many remarkable medium- 
istic gifts, the most interesting being that 
of direct painting by spirits, the modus 
operandi of which was as follows: Those 
desirous of getting a painting presented 
their visiting card or any card which they 
might choose, then they would .tear off 
one corner and keep it, so as to prevent 
the possibility of a card with a pic- 
ture previously on it being substituted. 
The keeping of the torn-off comer was 
for absolute test, as of course no two 
people would tear a piece of card just 
the same. A few paints were put on 
a palette and a brush laid by them was put 
on the table. The light was then turned out. 
In a few seconds Mr. D. would ask for the 
light to be turned on and there would be 
found a little landscape, seascape or some- 
thing of that kind painted in the dark, the 
paint of course still wet, done in a few sec- 
onds, that would have taken any living 
artist in a good light perhaps ten to twenty 
minutes or an hour. I have seen several of 



Its Truth 75 

these paintings. The seances were of such 
importance to those interested that it was 
not an unusual thing for people to go from 
London to Glasgow, a distance of five hun- 
dred miles, to be present at them. 

KAPS. 

I knew very well a Mrs. , liv* 

ing at East Eighty-third Street, New 
York City, who was a remarkable medium 
for physical manifestations. Her gift was 
for table rapping, etc. I was a frequent 
visitor at her home, and witnessed many 
interesting manifestations. For instance, 
if when I called we did not sit to the table 
at once, raps would begin to come on the 
table, and not one, but anyway from three 
or four to perhaps six or eight, all at the 
same time; these raps would be as dis- 
tinctly individual as a person's voice or 
manner of speech; many of these spirits I 
knew perfectly by their raps, just as well 
as I know some of my friends in body by 
their voice. If you have ever lived in a 
house with a door knocker you know what I 
mean by the individuality of a rap, or even 
the ring of a door bell. Haven't you said 



76 Spiritualism 

many a time that it's so and so before open- 
ing your door? Because there was some- 
thing in the rap or the ring that no one else 
ever gave? Yes, you might know a dozen 
Johns, Williams, Toms, Marys, Hannahs, 
etc, but you only knew one person with that 
exact rap or ring. To me they are more 
individual than names. 



TABLE LIFTED UP BY SPIRITS 

On one occasion Mrs. and I 

were sitting at the table alone with our 
hands resting lightly upon it, when it 
quietly rose up from the floor about six 
inches and then just as gently and quietly 
settled down. 



A RING IS MATERIALIZED. 

On another occasion, a gentleman and I 
were calling, and after we had sat at the 
table some time, I was asked or requested 
to clasp my hands together. I did so and in 
a short time I felt that a ring was ma- 
terialized in the palm of my hand. I asked 

the gentleman, also Mrs. , to put 

their finger into my hand between the index 



Its Truth 11 

finger and the thiunb, and they both said 
they could feel the ring. 

EAPS HEARD WHILST DINING. 

At another time, when I had invited her 
to my house for dinner, raps came all over 
the dining table, walls and sideboard, much 
to the astonishment of a few other guests I 
had invited to meet her, and I feel sure, to 
the alarm of some of them. 

A few years ago. after suffering for some 

time, Mrs. passed into the higher 

phases of life and to such conditions as she 
had prepared herself for, and surely they 
were good, for she was ever ready to help 
the distressed in mind, body or estate. 



CHAPTER V. 

Pkophecy, Ancient and Modekn, 

As we look down the ages, as far back as 
we can go, we find there were prophets; 
and as we look at them individually we find 
they were similar to what we have today, 
viz. : good and bad, true and false. Never- 
theless, this power being the gift of the 
Spirit, it will continue to exist through all 
time no matter what the persecutions and 
conditions it may have to pass through. 



PKOPHECY IS PROMISED. 

*'And it shall come to pass afterward 
that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh ; 
and your sons and your daughters shall 
prophesy, your old men shall dream 
dreams, your young men shall see visions. 

''And also upon the servants and upon 
the handmaids in those days will I pour 
out my spirit."— Joel II, 28-29. 

78 



Its Truth 79 



A SON IS PROMISED. 



''Now Sarai, Abram's wife, bare him no 
children, and she had a handmaid, an 
Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. 

"And Sarai said nnto Abram, Behold 
now, the Lord hath restrained me from 
bearing: I pray thee go in unto my maid; 
it may be that I may obtain children by 
her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of 
Sarai. 

"And Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar, 
her maid, the Egyptian, after Abram had 
dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and 
gave her to her husband, Abram, to be his 
wife. 

"And he went in unto Hagar, and she 
conceived ; and when she saw that she had 
conceived, her mistress was despised in her 
eyes. 

"And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong 
be upon thee. I have given my maid into 
thy bosom, and when she saw that she had 
conceived I was despised in her eyes. The 
Lord judge between me and thee. 

"But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy 
maid is in thy hand; do to her as it 



80 Spiritualism 

pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt 
hardly with her, she fled from her face. 

''And the angel of the Lord found her 
by a fountain of water in the wilderness, 
by the fountain in the way to Shur. 

''And he said, Hagar, Sarai 's maid, 
whence camest thou, and whither wilt thou 
go? And she said, I flee from the face of 
my mistress, Sarai. 

"And the angel of the Lord said unto 
her, Eeturn to thy mistress and submit 
thyself under her hands. 

"And the angel of the Lord said unto 
her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, 
that it shall not be numbered for multi- 
tude. 

"And the angel of the Lord said unto 
her. Behold, thou art with child and shalt 
bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael ; 
because the Lord hath heard thy affliction. ' ' 
—Genesis XVI, 1-11. 

"And Hagar bare Abram a son; and 
Abram called his son's name which Hagar 
bare Ishmael. ' ' — Genesis XVI, 15. 

A SON IS PKOMISED WHO SHALL NOT BE SHAVED. 

"And there was a certain man of Zorah, 
of the family of the Danites, whose name 



Its Truth 81 

was Manoali ; and his wife was barren and 
bare not. 

"And the angel of the Lord appeared 
nnto the woman, and said unto her, Behold 
now, thou art barren, and bearest not ; but 
thou shalt conceive, and bear a son. 

' '■ Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and 
drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat 
not any unclean thing : 

"For lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a 
son ; and no razor shall come on his head : 
for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God 
from the womb; and he shall begin to de- 
liver Israel out of the hand of the 
Philistines. 

^ ' Then the woman came and told her hus- 
band, saying, A man of God came unto me 
and his countenance was like the counte- 
nance of an angel of God, very terrible : but 
I asked him not when he was, neither told 
he me his name : 

"But he said unto me. Behold, thou shalt 
conceive, and bear a son : and now drink no 
wine nor strong drink, neither eat any un- 
clean thing: for the child shall be a Naz- 
arite to God from the womb to the day of 
his death. 

"Then Manoah entreated the Lord, and 



82 Spiritualism 

said, my Lord, let the man of God which 
thou didst send come again unto us, and 
teach us what we shall do unto the child 
that shall be born. 

''And God barkened to the voice of Ma- 
noah; and the angel of God came again 
unto the woman as she sat in the field : but 
Manoah, her husband, was not with her. 

"And the woman made haste, and ran, 
and shewed her husband, and said unto 
him. Behold, the man hath appeared unto 
me, that came unto me the other day. 

''And Manoah arose, and went after his 
wife, and came to the man, and said unto 
him. Art thou the man that spakest unto 
the woman ? and he said, I am. 

"And Manoah said, Now let thy words 
come to pass. How shall we order the 
child, and how shall we do unto him? 

"And the angel of the Lord said unto 
Manoah, Of all that I said unto the woman 
let her beware. 

' ' She may not eat of anything that com- 
eth of the vine, neither let her drink wine 
or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing : 
all that I commanded her let her observe. 

"And Manoah said unto the angel of the 
Lord, I pray thee, let us detain thee, until 



Its Truth 83 

we shall have made ready a kid for thee. ' ' — 
Judges XIII, 2-15. 



ELISHA PROMISES OE PEOPHECIES A SON TO THE 

SHUNAMMITE AND HIS PROPHECY IS 

FULFILLED. 

^'And he said, About this season, accord- 
ing to the time of life, thou shalt embrace a 
son. And she said, Nay, my Lord, thou man 
of God, do not lie unto thine handmaid. 

"And the woman conceived, and bare a 
son at that season that Elisha had said 
unto her, according to the time of life." — 
II Kings IV, 16-17. 



ELISHA AGAIN PROPHESIES SEEMINGLY IMPOS- 
SIBLE THINGS IN SAMARIA. 

"Then Elisha said. Hear ye the word of 
the Lord ; Thus saith the Lord, Tomorrow 
about this time shall a measure of fine flour 
be sold for a shekel, and two measures of 
barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria. 

"And the people went out and spoiled 
the tents of the Syrians. So a measure of 
fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two 



84 Spiritualism 

measures of barley for a shekel, according 
to the word of the Lord. ' ' — II Kings, VII, 
1 and 16. 



JEKEMIAH FORTELLBTH THE DEATH OF 
HANANIAH. 

''Then the prophet Jeremiah said unto 
the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the 
Priests and in the presence of all the 
people that stood in the house of the Lord. 

"Even the prophet Jeremiah said. 
Amen : The Lord do so : the Lord perform 
thy words which thou hast prophesied, to 
bring again the vessels of the Lord's house, 
and all that is carried away captive, from 
Babylon into the place. 

''Nevertheless hear thou now this word 
that I speak in thine ears, and in the ears 
of all the people ; 

"The prophets that have been before me 
and before thee of old prophesied both 
against many countries, and against great 
kingdoms, of war, and of evil, and of pesti- 
lence. 

"The prophet which prophesieth of 
peace, when the word of the prophet shall 



Its Truth 85 

come to pass, then shall the prophet be 
known, that the Lord hath truly sent him. 

''Then Hananiah the prophet took the 
yoke from off the prophet Jeremiah's neck, 
and brake it. 

''And Hananiah spake in the presence of 
all the people saying. Thus saith the Lord ; 
Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchad- 
nezzar, king of Babylon, from the neck of 
all nations within the space of two full 
years. And the prophet Jeremiah went his 
way, 

"Then the word of the Lord came unto 
Jeremiah the prophet, after that Hananiah 
the prophet had broken the yoke from off 
the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying, 

"Go and tell Hananiah saying, Thus 
saith the Lord ; Thou hast broken the yokes 
of wood; but thou shalt make for them 
yokes of iron. 

"For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the 
God of Israel; I have put a yoke of iron 
upon the neck of all these nations, that they 
may serve Nebuchadnezzar, king of Baby- 
lon; and they shall serve him: and I have 
given him the beasts of the field also. 

"Then said the prophet Jeremiah unto 
Hananiah the prophet. Hear now, Hana- 



86 Spiritualism 

niah ; The Lord liath not sent thee ; but thou 
makest this people to trust in a lie. 

i i Therefore thus saith the Lord ; Behold, 
I will cast thee from off the face of the 
earth : this year thou shalt die, because thou 
hast taught rebellion against the Lord. 

' ' So Hananiah the prophet died the same 
year in the seventh month." — Jeremiah, 
XXVIII, 5-17. 

As we look back and then view the pres- 
ent, it would seem as if amongst the gifts 
of the Spirit that prophecy or prediction 
was the most prevalent ; and like the 
prophet Hananiah they are not all truth- 
ful or correct. Yet let me state, that I be- 
lieve the modern prophet is much more cor- 
rect and truthful than the world is apt to 
give credit for ; I make a good deal of dif- 
ference between a prophecy or prediction. 
Not being correct and its being untruthful, 
a prophecy or prediction may not work out 
in every detail, and yet a fair-minded per- 
son may see such a close resemblance that 
it would be unfair to call it untrue. I have 
in mind some of my own experiences in 
what has been predicted for me and others 
that I can vouch for, that I think may be of 
interest. 



Its Truth 87 

TOLD I WAS COMING TO AMEEICA. 

Years before I ever thought of coming to 
America I was told by psychics in various 
parts of England that I should go to 
America; this was especially so before I 
came the second time, and invariably I 
asked the question, ''Shall I come back to 
England?" And the reply was always, 
''Yes." 

WILL NOT GO BACK TO ENGLAND TO LIVE. 

On my reaching New York the second 
time I decided to go to Brookline, Mass., to 
visit a friend; knowing my interest in 
psychic phenomena, the second morning I 
was there he said. "Wouldn't you like to 
go and see some psychic," to which I said, 
"Yes." As we were both going into Bos- 
ton I called upon one. The first thing she 
said was, "You will never go back to Eng- 
land to live. ' ' I told her she was mistaken ; 
then she went on to say I was going a long, 
long way west. At the time my plans were 
totally unformed. Then she went on fur- 
ther to say that within a year she saw me 
living in Boston. At that time I had no 
such thought. However, in a few weeks I 
found myself in the Eocky Mountains, and 



88 Spiritualism 

one day whilst in one of the western cities 
I called upon another psychic, and the first 
thing the medium said was, "You will never 
go back to England to live." I said, ''I do 
not want to hear any more of that ; it is not 
true ; I shall go back, ' ' to wliich she replied, 
' ' You need not get angry, for in a year from 
now you won't want to." That is nearly 
twenty years ago and I am in America yet, 
and my love for it and its people gives me 
no desire to leave either one or the other. 



TOLD I SHOULD LEAVE TOEONTO SOON. 

Whilst in the West I was suddenly called 
on business to Toronto, Canada, and when 
I got there I found my business in such a 
condition that it seemed as if it would take 
several months to complete. Therefore, I 
secured comfortable room and board in the 
house of an excellent Irish Catholic family. 
After I had been there a few weeks, when 
I went down to breakfast one morning, I 
found the lady of the house at the table 
looking very depressed, so I asked her, 
''Wliat was the matter?" She said, "Oh, it 
is about you!" About me I" "Yes, you 
are going to leave us very soon, and we 



Its Truth 89 

liad so hoped you would stay all winter." 
I replied, "What nonsense; why, of course 
I shall be here all winter. " "No you will 
not ; you will leave us soon. ' ' In two weeks 
I was back living in Boston. 

You may say, what falsehoods I was told 
in England; nothing of the kind; you see I 
did not ask if I should come back to Eng- 
land to live ; as a matter of fact, I have been 
back to England many times. I am inclined 
to think that the good entities on the other 
plane of life treats us the same as intelli- 
gent parents treat their children, viz. : tell 
just what is best for them to know at the 
time and no more, for we may not be ready 
to receive or capable of understanding all 
they may see or have planned for us. 
Neither do I think that any wise psychics 
tell all they see for people; in my opinion 
they should not. 



A HORSE WOULD BE SICK. 

I knew well and intimately all the parties 
concerned in the following incident and was 
present when it occurred. A gentleman 
and I had been imated to the suburbs of 



90 Spiritualism 

New York to dine at the home of a friend. 
It was the first time the gentleman who 
went with me had been to the house, and I 
am sure he did know whether or not our 
host was the owner of a horse or not. We 
had just started dinner when this particu- 
lar guest addressed our host in the follow- 
ing language: "You have a horse in your 
stable which stands sixteen hands high. A 
bright, clear bay in color. This is not only 
your favorite horse, but it is your most 
valuable one." To which our host said it 
was in every detail as this gentleman had 
said. Then he (the guest) went on to say: 
that very shortly this horse would be taken 
sick in the night and that unless they got 
the veterinary there at once it would die. In 
less than one week our hostess called at the 
store of this gentleman on Fifth avenue and 
said that two nights after we were there 
their groom had called them up in the mid- 
dle of the night, saying the horse was sick. 
They got the veterinary there at once. He 
remained with the horse until the next 
morning, and they felt they had to thank 
this gentleman (their guest) for the saving 
of the horse's life. 



Its Truth 91 



GOING TO BOSTON. 



As I have already said, I knew this gen- 
tleman very intimately, consequently we 
were often together. So it happened he 
was at my house one evening when two 
ladies and two gentlemen called. The con- 
versation seemed to drift naturally to his 
gift, and they were anxious to know if he 
could get anything for them. We will call 
these ladies and gentlemen Mr. and Mrs. 
A. and Mr. and Mrs. W., and at last he 
said to Mr. A., ''Yes, I see you are going 
to Boston very soon." "What for?" 
"On business; you are going to be called 
there. ' ' Mr. A. : "If there is one place in 
the United States I am less likely to go 
to than another it is Boston, for I do not 
know a soul there." "I cannot help 
that. I believe you will go, and soon." 
This conversation took place on a Friday 
evening; the following Tuesday afternoon 
Mrs. A. called me on the 'phone to say her 
husband had that morning received a tele- 
gram from Boston, requesting him to come 
over, and had already started. 



92 Spiritualism 

''you will not be their manager." 

This gentleman with the Spirit of 
prophecy one day went into a large Fifth 
avenue store where he had a business ac- 
quaintance, who held a fine position, and as 
soon as his acquaintance began to show him 
the goods he wished to see, he said to him : 
"Are you thinking of leaving these people, 

R r' E said, "Why do you ask I" 

"Because I fear you are, and if you do it 
will be the greatest mistake you ever made 

in your life." R ^was a hot-tempered 

man, so he said, ' ' That is a d n nice way 

to discourage a fellow. I was away this 
summer and made arrangements to go and 
manage F.'s business, and, anyway, I have 
no use for that nonsense of yours." "All 
right, let me say you will never be their 

manager. ' ' This statement angered E 

all the more, till he would have enjoyed 
kicking his caller into the avenue. In spite 
of this warning he gave up his position for 
the purpose of taking the other, after tak- 
ing a desired rest and vacation, and whilst 
he was yet on his vacation the firm he had 
expected to go with changed their mind and 



Its Truth 93 

sent him word tliey should not require his 
services. 

E suffered very much financially 

for some years, and finally learned the les- 
son that adversity is sent to teach and grew 
largely in the things of the Spirit. 

AN UNEXPECTED TKIP AND AN UNEXPECTED 
STAY AT HOME. 

One February my gifted friend and I 
were at the home of Mrs. S., about sixteen 
miles up the Hudson Eiver, and after din- 
ner we were sitting in the parlor and a Dr. 
N. joined us, when all of a sudden Mrs. S. 
said, ''Shall I go to Europe this summer?" 
And to my surprise, my friend said, "Yes." 
I say surprised, because at that time I 
knew Mrs. S. to be of limited means, there- 
fore I was not surprised when she laugh- 
ingly asked, ''Where is the money coming 
from ? ' ' And not surprised at the reply, ' ' I 
don't know, I only know you will go." 
However, the months rolled away and one 
day Mrs. S. 's mother-in-law came to tell her 
she was going to Europe and that she was 
going to take her (Mrs. S.) and also her 
(Mrs. S.'s) youngest daughter with her; 



94 Spiritualism 

and to Europe they all three went. We 
have still the gentleman named Dr. N. to 
account for, and let me say, I do not think 
he believed anything that was said al- 
though he had an experience that should 
have convinced any but a person that was 
lopsided to the last degree. Yet I believe 
he is as far from believing as he was that 
night when he asked in a very dignified and 
demanding manner, "Am I going to Europe 
this year?" And the reply equally clear 
and dignified was given, "No, sir." I ad- 
mit seeing that Dr. N. had already got his 
ticket and the date of sailing, it did seem a 
little startling; nevertheless Dr. N. did not 
go until the following year, as the plans he 
had made had to be altered altogether. 



SPIRITUALISM 

ITS HELPFULNESS 



THE HELPFULNESS OF SPIRITUALISM. 

To what extent it shall be helpful can 
only be determined by the intelligent appli- 
cation of its messages, reproofs, warnings 
and philosophy. It takes away the fear of 
death by proving the continuity of life ; it 
brings consolation to the sorrowing by mes- 
sages from loved ones proven to be reliable. 
To those in perplexity it gives gniidance, 
courage, hope, and the assurance that be- 
yond the vale loved ones are working for 
our good ; above all, that the expression of 
power, intelligence, wisdom, love, which is 
the foundation and the cause of all that is, 
whether in the physical or spiritual realms, 
is our Father, God, and he will express him- 
self to us, each in his own way, if we leave 
our souls open to receive Him. 



97 



98 Spiritualism 

EACH IN HIS OWN TONGUE. 

'*A fire-mist and a planet, 

A crystal and a cell ; 
A jelly-fish and a saurian, 

And caves where the cave-men dwell ; 
Then a sense of law and beauty, 

And a face turned from the clod; 
Some call it Evolution, 

And others call it God. 

"A haze on the horizon, 

The infinite, tender sky, 
The ripe, rich tint of the cornfields. 

And the wild goose sailing high ; 
And all over upland and lowland 

The charm of the golden-rod ; 
Some of us call it Autumn, 

And others call it God. 

"Like tides on a crescent sea-beach 

When the moon is new and thin. 
Into our hearts high yearnings 

Come welling and surging in ; 
Come from the mystic ocean. 

Whose rim no foot has trod ; 
Some of us call it Longing, 

And others call it God. 



Its Helpfulness 99 

''A picket frozen on duty, 

A mother starved for her brood ; 
Socrates drinking the hemlock, 

And Jesus on the rood ; 
And millions who, humble and nameless, 

The straight, hard pathway trod — 
Some call it Consecration, 

And others call it God. ' ' 

— William Hekbert Carruth. 

It teaches man his own responsibilities 
and does not attempt to blame God, the 
world, the flesh or the devil for what is fre- 
quently his own desire. 

THE LAW OF COMPENSATION NEVER GOES 
ASTRAY. 

The tried, proven and trusted messengers 
of Spiritualism state that the law of com- 
pensation never goes astray on the spirit 
plane; that every kind thought, every cup 
of water given in the name of a disciple, and 
every goodly desire is a prayer, which not 
only benefits the giver (which it does), but 
the whole universe. Don't begin sending 
out good desires for the purpose of the re- 
ward, for at once the reward thought makes 



100 Spiritualism 

nil and void the would be good, your desire 
(prayer) bringing an answer, but very dif- 
ferent to your wish, but what it justly calls 
for. 



A FOUNDATION EOCK. 

They teach this truth and rock founda- 
tion by stating clearly that whoever for- 
gives us, and however freely, there is abso- 
lutely no possibility of our getting away 
from the consequence of our sins; that 
sometime, somewhere, we must pay the full 
price. It may be a consolation to some that 
they also say there is no hell of burning. 
If so, read such books as "A Wanderer in 
Spirit Land, ' ' and it may be found a doubt- 
ful advantage until the spirit has received 
its baptism of peace from the desire for 
progression. 



GOOD TIDINGS. 

Because these messengers of good tidings 
have not attributed to the majesty of the 
creative wisdom all the most vile desires for 
revenge that have ever been found in the 
most vicious human breast, as some teach- 



i 



Its Helpfulness 101 

ers of religion seem delighted to do, some 
have taken it for granted that a full span of 
human expression could be lived here, if not 
in open rebellion, in open neglect of their 
spirit growth, and that with an hour or two 
consciousness left for their use before pass- 
ing out of the body they could square it all 
with God. Do not be shocked at the expres- 
sion ' ' square it, ' ' it probably is never ver- 
bally expressed that way, nevertheless it is 
the foundation thought, either conscious or 
unconscious, in thousands of minds. To 
such I say, ye fools, God cannot be deceived. 
Evidently you expect God to judge or mis- 
judge you. Nay, verily, never, that awful 
responsibility He has left to ourselves, 
hence its justice and severity. 

FOOLISH DEPENDENCE ON SPIRITS. 

But because of the helpfulness and as- 
surance of these messengers, many per- 
fectly sincere people get so dependent on 
their spirit friends for help that it is pa- 
thetic. If their hats should be on one side 
they would hardly straighten them without 
advice. Eeader, have you ever had any one 
tag after your heels so much that you have 



102 Spiritualism 

felt you would like to fly if they didn 't leave 
you alone! Well, now, if you have felt so, 
how do you think the spirits feel who are 
constantly being asked about things that a 
very little use of our thinking machine 
would answer for us ? Truly, I'm sorry for 
the spirits ; their usefulness and helpfulness 
is only intended for us after we have used 
the brains, hands and feet wMch God has 
given us. When we have done that and 
have failed, then if our object is a worthy 
one we should call on our spirit friends for 
help and expect it, and it will be given. 

PEEPARIJSTG FOR OUR NEXT EXPRESSION". 

Whatever may be the reason for our con- 
scious expression on this mundane plain, we 
can rest assured it is fully in keeping with 
the divine plan. Therefore it is plainly our 
duty to make as much of it as we possibly 
can, both for ourselves and humanity, and 
I am satisfied that by doing this we are 
making the best preparation possible for 
the next stage of evolution. 



CHAPTER VI. 

It Takes Away Feae. 

**For lie shall give Ms angels charge 
over thee to keep thee in all thy ways. 

' ' They shall bear thee up in their hands, 
lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. ' ' — 
Psalm XCI, 11-12. 

FEAE. 

Fear has ever been the retarder of prog- 
ress and demoralizer of human effort. Dr. 
0. S. Harden, in his "Miracle of Right 
Thought," speaks of fear as "the paralysis 
of fear." Therefore, anything that takes 
away fear is not only helpful, but is a great 
blessing. 

THE RESULT OF FEARLESSNESS. 

We will now look at men who were with- 
out fear, and what they accomplished by 
their faith and courage. They knew in 
whom they believed, and that He was able 
to deliver, even though only certain death 
seemed possible. 

103 



104 Spiritualism 

Nebuchadnezzar was the king of 
Babylon, and one night he had a dream that 
frightened him so he could not sleep, and 
as was the custom under such circumstances 
in his time, he sent for his astrologers, 
psychics, interpreters of various kinds, etc., 
etc., requesting them to interpret the dream 
to him. When they arrived they asked 
what his dream was about, and he said he 
could not remember, but that he wanted 
them to tell him what the dream was and its 
meaning, and that if they could not they 
would just be chopped to pieces and their 
houses destroyed, and that he was not go- 
ing to give them any time to make up lies 
to him. They were either to tell him his 
dream and its meaning at once and get a 
big reward, or delay and reap the conse- 
quences. These Chaldeans told the King 
neither they nor anybody else could tell 
him, for no such request had ever been 
made and it could not be done. 

Kings in those days were accustomed to 
being obeyed, no matter how unreasonable 
their demands. So this inability of the 
Chaldeans did not appeal to the King's 
sympathy, but to his anger, therefore, one 
of the captains of the guard was sent forth 



Its Helpfulness 105 

to slay all the wise men of Babylon, and 
they sought Daniel and his followers. 
Daniel and his followers did not fear the 
King, but desired to be civil, where they 
could without yielding their allegiance to 
their God so when the captain found 
Daniel, instead of bribing the captain to 
say he could not find him and his three com- 
panions, he calmly and dignifiedly asked the 
captain why the King was in such a hurry 
to slay. The captain explained. Then 
Daniel went in and told the King to give 
him time and he would tell him all he 
wanted to know. Daniel went home and 
talked it over with his three friends, and 
they concentrated in prayer to get the 
dream and its meaning, and the secret was 
revealed to them, and Daniel gave the 
dream and its interpretation to the King, 
and the King was so pleased that he wanted 
to worship him and gave him many great 
gifts, and he, Daniel, remembering his 
friends, asked for positions for them, which 
were given. Later Nebuchadnezzar made a 
colossal golden image, which he ordered the 
people at a given sign to fall down and 
worsliip, and those failing to do so should 
be cast into a fiery furnace, and they all did 



106 Spiritualism 

worship the golden image, the greatest men 
of the land, except Shadrach, Meshach and 
Abed-nego, and they feared not the King, 
their position, nor death, and because of 
their faith and their courage the needed 
help and deliverance was given. 

''And he commanded the most mighty 
men that ivere in his army to bind Shad- 
rach, Meshach and Abed-nego, and to cast 
them into the burning fiery furnace. 

"Then Nebuchadnezzar, the king, was 
astonished, and rose up in haste, and spake, 
and said unto his counsellors. Did not we 
cast three men bound into the midst of the 
fire? They answered and said unto the 
King, True, King. 

''He answered and said, Lo, I see four 
men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, 
and they have no hurt ; and the form of the 
fourth is like the Son of God." — Daniel 
III, 20, 24 and 25. 



JEALOUSY. 

Eeader, do you suffer from jealousy, 
either with or without cause! I hope not, 
but if you imagine that you have the slight- 
est suspicion of it about you, I would sug- 



Its Helpfulness 107 

gest that you commence at once to take 
mental medicine for it. It's the only thing 
that ever does it any good. The lies it 
makes people tell and the crimes it makes 
them commit are horrible to contemplate — 
suicides and murders of the worst char- 
acter, and if it be possible even worse 
things than these. You see when per- 
sons so afflicted commit suicide, they do not 
in the slightest degree alter or improve con- 
ditions, they only kill the physical, and this 
being a mental disease goes on flourishing 
serenely, unless checked by the spirit; but 
for those who sincerely crave relief, the 
spirit is ever ready to help and relieve, and 
bear in mind there is not a human being 
worth being jealous of, or a thing or a con- 
dition worth it, or that can be improved by 
it. We are going to review a bad attack of 
this malignant disease and see how help 
and deliverance came from its cleverly laid 
plans. Evil is generally clever, but the 
good spirit helpers are more so. 

Belshazzar after his impious feast had 
died and Darius had been made King. As 
the head of the Government had been 
changed it was the thing to be expected 
that the politicians should be anxious for 



108 Spiritualism 

any plums that might be given out in the 
way of office, the same as when the Presi- 
dent of the United States is changed. 
There were those who were almost sick be- 
cause somebody had got the very plum they 
wanted. Daniel had grown in favor and in 
power, and had been made the first of three 
presidents which the King had appointed. 
The other officers might have been expected 
to be beyond jealousy, for they were presi- 
dents, princes, governors, and so forth, but 
at heart they were ordinary men, and like 
bad politicians of all times and all countries 
who think more of personal gain than the 
good of their country, they got together 
and planned how they could trap Daniel. 
After consulting, they concluded he could 
not be caught by neglect of duty or incom- 
petency, so they decided to put up a job 
on him, and they did, and upon the King 
also, for they got the King to sign a de- 
cree that no one should ask a petition for 
thirty days of God or man except himself 
unless he paid the penalty of being cast 
into a den of lions. 

They knew Daniel was accustomed to ask 
petitions of his God three times a day, and 
they knew that Daniel in spite of all human 



Its Helpfulness 109 

orders would continue to do so, which he 
did, of course. These politicians came to 
the King at once after Daniel had disre- 
garded the decree, and asked him what they 
already knew, if he had not signed a decree 
forbidding the asking of a petition of any 
but himself, and after they got his con- 
firmation they told of Daniel, and the 
King's heart went out to him in kindness 
and sympathy, and as soon as they saw that 
they began to be urgent and press the case 
and reminded him that the law was unalter- 
able, and when it could not be altered the 
King did all he could to comfort Daniel, and 
after Daniel had been put in the den of lions 
and the King had sealed it, he (the King) 
went home and concentrated all night for 
him, and combined with the victorious faith 
of Daniel the result was as follows : 

''And when he came to the den, he cried 
with a lamentable voice unto Daniel : and 
the King spake and said to Daniel, 
Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy 
God, whom thou servest continually, able 
to deliver thee from the lions? 

' ' Then said Daniel unto the king, king, 
live forever. 

"My God has sent his angel, and has shut 



110 Spiritualism 

the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt 
me : forasmuch as before him innocency was 
found in me ; and also before thee, king, 
have I done no hurt." — Daniel VI, 20, 
21 and 22. 

HEKOD IN FEAE. 

Herod had heard the news that Jesus 
should be born, and as the kingship of Jesus 
was all around misunderstood, the result 
was that Herod was much troubled and had 
secretly made up his mind to destroy the 
child, so he privately called the wise men 
and made careful inquiries, and then sent 
them to find the birthplace of the child 
Jesus, and demanded them to return and 
report to him, but being wise they came to 
the conclusion through a dream that it was 
wiser for them to go home by another way 
and not call on Herod on their way back, 
and they followed this idea out, which 
caused Herod not only trouble but great 
anger. 

JOSEPH OKDEEED TO EGYPT. 

When the wise men were departed an 
angel (a Spirit) appeared unto Joseph in 
a dream and told him to take the child and 



Its Helpfulness 111 

his mother into Egypt and to remain there 
until he (the Spirit) should bring him word, 
for Herod would seek the child to destroy 
Him. Joseph took the warning and started 
that night and remained in Egypt until the 
Spirit again told him that danger was out 
of the way for the young child for Herod 
was dead. — St. Matthew, II. 

Often the way is so dark that not a step 
can be seen nor heard, and if trodden at all 
must be trod by faith, whilst the mind and 
the heart repeat the immortalized words of 
Cardinal Newmann : 

"Lead kindly light, amid the encircling 
gloom. 

Lead Thou me on ; 
The night is dark and I am far from home, 

Lead Thou me on. 
Keep Thou my feet ; I do not wish to see 
The distant scene; one step enough for 
me. ' ' 

To this kind of faith the helpfulness of 
the spirit is ever given, and although the 
way may be dark to us the result is always 
right and could not be otherwise, for it is 
the Father leading through and unto the 
various stages of evolution which in our 



112 Spiritualism 

progress we must pass ; then why be faint 
and downhearted at the least approach of 
rough or strange road! Let us rather be 
glad, as though it were the graduation out 
of one class or school and the reception into 
a higher one. 

SOME HAVE EYES AND SEE NOT, EAES AND HEAR 
NOT. 

The question will naturally be asked, and 
rightly so, too: ''do visions, and dreams, 
and voices come today, as of old, to help us ? 
Yes, certainly they do, and as of old, ' ' some 
have eyes and see not, ears and hear not. ' ' 
Therefore, if you be one of those who are 
blind and deaf do not be one of the foolish 
ones who say no one else sees or hears be- 
cause you do not; there are too many 
reputable witnesses against you. But as of 
old, many people disregard their warnings 
and advice and suffer the consequences. 

WAENED OF A FALL. 

One winter I was at a public meeting and 
heard a man say to a woman who was a 
stranger to him, "I see you have three or 



Its Helpfulness 113 

four steps leading up to your house," to 
whicli she said it was so. He then went on 
to say to her, "During the next two or 
three weeks you should be very careful in 
coming down the steps out of your house, 
for I see great danger of your slipping and 
spraining your ankle." She did not take 
care, and in less than a week had slipped in 
coming down the steps, and was confined 
to her bed for several weeks. Don't go and 
blame this lady and say "it served her 
right." She was not a bit different from 
the average person who gets a warning or 
advice in a public meeting. I believe unless 
they get a message that pleases them they 
straightway go and forget it, and as this 
lady did, only remember when it is too late. 

THE MESSAGE SEEMS SO TEIFLING. 

How often we hear people say, "Oh, yes ; 
but if the spirits do come back and give 
messages they always seem so very 
trivial. ' ' Well, now that may be largely so, 
yet the sum total of life (if there is such a 
thing as a trifle) is made up of trifles. Fly- 
ing a kite was seemingly a trifling thing, but 
through it Franklin laid the foundation of 



114 Spiritualism 

all forms of electrical expressions and con- 
veniences we enjoy today. To me this 
psychic, the man who gave tliis woman the 
message, his duty was plain to warn her of 
the probabilities of spraining her ankle, 
although it might have seemed to those it 
did not concern a very ordinary, trifling 
thing. 

A scientific discourse on botany or zo- 
ology might have been very interesting to 
some, but neither, even by heeding them, 
would have saved the fall, so the common 
sense thing was evident. Then remember 
that in the world of Spiritualism there are 
lecturers who do give the very finest kinds 
of lectures on philosophy and science, and 
what is their attendance as a rule 1 Simply 
disgracefully small. Some time since I 
heard a wonderful lecture by one of the 
well-known speakers that should have at- 
tracted enough people to fill the largest 
hall we have in New York. There were less 
than a dozen people present. 

SPIEIT HELP FOR THOSE WHO HEED AND WILL 
ACCEPT IT. 

Spirit intervention, guidance and helpful- 
ness for those who need guidance and for 



Its Helpfulness 115 

those who will be helped, is as great today 
as at any time in the world's history. Do 
you wish to prove this ? If so, simply keep 
your ears, eyes and mind open and you will 
find it easy to prove. 

MORAL COURAGE, 

I knew a family who lived in one of the 
large cities of the Midlands, England. 
They were prominent socially and finan- 
cially and had nothing to gain and every- 
thing to lose by expressing a belief in any- 
thing that was considered abnormal, or not 
approved of by Mrs. Grundy. However, the 
lady of the family had strong psychic gifts 
and the moral courage to follow them. At 
the time we are going to speak of she had 
two young sons at boarding school in 
Wales. One night about 2 A. M. she awak- 
ened her husband and told him their two 
sons had scarlet fever and they must get 
up and go to them. He told her she had 
only been dreaming and bade her go to 
sleep and let him do the same. However, 
that would not satisfy her and she insisted 
upon their getting up and taking a train 
that passed through their city between 



116 Spiritualism 

three and four in the morning, which 
they did, arriving at their destination four 
or five hours later, to be told by the 
principal of the school he was glad to see 
them, for the day before their boys had been 
taken sick and the doctor had decided it was 
scarlet fever. The parents got such assisi>- 
ance as was needed and their sons were 
nursed back to health. 



A TEAIN ACCIDENT. 

Who shall say how many lives have been 
spared and prolonged for usefulness by 
spirit intervention? I knew very well a 
lady in New York who had decided to go 
South to visit relatives. She had gotten 
her ticket and decided to go on a certain 
train the next morning. Whilst busy pack- 
ing her trunk ready for departure one of 
her spirit friends came to her and told her 
she must change her ticket and must not go 
on that train or that line. She asked why? 
But they would not tell her, but insisted she 
must do as they wished. She changed her 
ticket and went later the following day on 
another line, to find that the train she had 
previously intended taking had met with an 



Its Helpfulness 117 

accident and that a number of people had 
been killed. She lived many years of use- 
fulness after this. 



A BUSINESS MAN S TROUBLES. 

I knew intimately a gentleman who 
was in business in New York, a clever 
man, who understood his business. He 
had a partner who, in his ignorance, did 
all he could to annoy him and to destroy 
their business, wliich eventually he suc- 
ceeded in doing. As theirs was a stock 
company and the partner had the ma- 
jority of stock it gave him the control- 
ling vote. Knowing this he called a special 
meeting for the purpose of turning my 
friend out, and carried the vote to that 
effect, serving notice upon him that he must 
vacate in two days. My friend went home 
feeling very sad, and retired that night feel- 
ing that life was scarcely worth living, when 
all at once he noticed sitting on the side of 
his bed two of his spirit friends, who said 
to him he was to cheer up, he would not 
leave until they were ready for him to do 
so, that he was to stay until they told him 
to go, and when the time was ripe they 



118 Spiritualism 

would tell him. He stayed for two months 
exactly as if there had never been a special 
meeting called, when they, his spirit 
friends, came again and told him it was now 
time to leave. He asked them about the 
financial settlement. They told him not to 
mind that, but simply to go, that in the end 
he would get much more out of the business 
than he expected. He followed their ad- 
vice and eventually he did get three or four 
times more than he expected. 

When I speak of this man following the 
advice of his spirit friends, do not for a 
moment take it for granted that I advocate 
people following the advice of any spirit, 
whether they know anything about them or 
not. I do nothing of the kind. This man 
had proven the judgment and integrity of 
these spirits, and knew they were to be 
relied upon, which every one should do be- 
fore blindly following their advice. How 
often I have heard people say, ''I always do 
what the dear spirits say." I always feel 
like saying, ''Then stop at once," because 
with this type of person ' ' doing as the dear 
spirits say" means just simply any spirit — 
good, bad or indifferent — a thing much to 
be avoided. 



Its Helpfulness 119 

A MOTHER REQUESTS HER SON NOT TO GO 
ABROAD. 

In the early days of June, 1914, six 
others and I were invited to a private se- 
ance, to be given at a home in New York 
City. Our hostess received us in a 
pretty, bright room, and later we were 
ushered into a charming room of Oriental 
character and softly lighted. After chat- 
ting for a few minutes the psychic sug- 
gested we had better begin our inves- 
tigation. Every one was ready and 
and the work began at once. The mes- 
sages were so absolutely personal in 
character they could only be recognized by 
those for whom they were intended, and in 
that intimate and personal way they were 
all recognized, when all at once the psychic 
turned to a gentleman and said: "Your 
mother is here and wishes me to say she 
does not want you to go to Europe this 
summer because it would be very uncom- 
fortable for you. You are better home." 
This gentleman is in the habit of going to 
Europe frequently, but this year decided 
not to go. Soon after the war broke out in 
Europe the gentleman met the psychic, who 



120 Spiritualism 

said to him, "Your mother is here again 
and says, 'Now you know why she did not 
want you to go to Europe.' " He said, 
' ' Yes, indeed. ' ' Then the mother continued 
to say that on the Spirit side of life it wa^ 
well known that war was going to break out 
in Europe, but they were not allowed to 
make it generally known. I believe this, 
and it is well for us to remember thatt 
spirits are controlled by divine wisdom and 
are often forbidden to tell all they know, 
although to them there may seem no reason 
for not doing so. The gentleman who got 
this message, in speaking of it to me later, 
said, "I am thankful I did not go. If I had 
you know I would have been in Belgium, 
right in the war zone, and could not have 
helped suffering great inconvenience. I am 
grateful to have been spared this trouble." 



CHAPTER VII. 

Helpfulness by CoNsoLATioisr. 

Thousands of reputable men and women 
scattered all over the world, if necessary, 
could bear witness to the consolation 
Spiritualism has given them in time of sor- 
row and bereavement, often proving to 
them the continuity of life and the existence 
of God Himself where these things have 
been doubted or disbelieved altogether. 

I have many a time seen the tears spring 
to the eyes, not of weak, hysterical women, 
but of strong, self-possessed men, when 
some loved one has been described and some 
message given from one they had never ex- 
pected to hear from again whilst on earth. 

A WIPE PROVES HER IDENTITY. 

A few months ago one evening I was 
taken to call on a gentleman who had re- 
cently lost his wife. He is a very busy man, 

121 



122 Spiritualism 

with the care of a large business in New 
York City. He is considered very matter 
of fact and practical. In fact, his calling 
would demand him to be that. We had been 
chatting a short time on common place sub- 
jects when I noticed his wife standing by 
his side. I did as I generally do under such 
circumstances, described her to him, and he 
seemed much astonished, as I had never 
seen him before, and he realized I did not 
know his wife. Then she gave me the cause 
of her death and her name, or more cor- 
rectly speaking, a pet name. The tears (not 
of sorrow, but of joy) streamed down his 
face, and he said, "Yes, it is surely she, 
for no one except myself ever called her 
by that name, and you could not have 
known the cause of her death. How thank- 
ful I am for this message." 

Many a human heart finds itself in har- 
mony with Tennyson, and silently and 
prayerfully repeats : 

"But, 0, for the touch of a vanished hand 
And the sound of a voice that is still, ' ' 
and only those who feel such touches and 
hear such voices can appreciate the joy such 
experiences give. 



Its Helpfulness 123 

SPIRIT HELPFULNESS VAEIED AS HUMAN NEEDS. 

Spirit helpfulness is as varied as human 
needs. I knew a gentleman who was calling 
on an old friend who had lost her husband, 
and whilst they were chatting the husband 
came and stood by her side. He said to 
the gentleman calling, ' ' Tell her not to sell 
my old desk, there is something in it she 
will find very useful," and then proceeded 
to describe how she could locate it. The 
gentleman repeated the message. After 
her husband's death she had moved into a 
smaller apartment, and having no room for 
the desk sent it to storage and had been 
thinking of selling it or giving it to one of 
her friends. After this message she and 
her daughter went to the storage house and 
examined the desk, and found two pieces of 
jewelry they had supposed had been stolen, 
but what was of much more importance 
they found papers which helped them to 
establish a claim to a pension that would 
have caused them much difficulty without 
the evidence they found in that desk. The 
husband had studied, with his wife, the laws 
of psychic phenomena, and they both knew 
the importance of taking heed of messages 
from a reliable source. 



124 Spiritualism 

THE TESTIMONY OF ONE WHO HAD INVESTI- 
GATED FOR OVEE FORTY YEARS. 

Last evening, November 12, 1914, 1 spent 
at the home of a friend at Jamaica, Long 
Island, where I met an exceptionally bright 
man, between 70 and 80 years old. I fonnd 
he was and had been deeply interested in 
Spiritualism for more than forty years; 
that his investigations had been made intel- 
ligently and to a large extent scientifically. 
He said that his investigations were begun 
to prove the matter false, but that he was 
soon convinced that beneath a quantity of 
debris there lay truth, and he realized that 
if his investigations were to be of perma- 
nent good they must be made with system 
and order. Therefore, at the beginning he 
took notes of the messages that were given 
and did not leave to his memory the details 
which would easily be forgotten. He stated 
at times he had gotten what seemed contra- 
dictions, but with the rolling years the 
seeming contradictions had in almost every 
case proven themselves in order and true, 
bringing to him consolation and peace by 
the frequent visits of old friends who many 
years previously had joined the great ma- 
jority on the spirit side of life. 



Its Helpfulness 125 

SUICIDE ASKS FORGIVENESS. 

One evening last winter, 1913, I was at- 
tending a social gathering at the home of a 
well-known doctor in New York City. My 
host and hostess knew I had clairvoyance, 
and as the evening passed along asked me if 
I would give a demonstration of that power. 
Eealizing the kind of people who were there 
I knew it would not be taken as part of the 
evening's amusement and that possibly it 
might be the means of helpfulness to some. 
I consented at once, and afterward was 
glad I had. I had only been speaking 
for a short time when I saw standing 
by a lady a spirit who claimed to be her 
brother, and yet sent out to her a feeling 
as if she were his mother. I described his 
appearance, which she said was that of her 
brother. Then I asked her if she could 
understand the feeling of mother which 
seemed to exist between them. She said, 
''Yes! Perfectly, because I was the eldest 
of the family and he was the youngest. Our 
mother died when he was a cliild and I 
brought him up. ' ' Then the spirit asked his 
sister's forgiveness, which she freely gave. 
Looking up, she asked me, ''Does he say 



126 Spiritualism 

of what he died?" '^Yes. Suicide," I an- 
swered. ''True," she said, "and that is 
what he asks forgiveness for. ' ' 

Did this message bring this bereaved 
sister and her husband consolation? You 
certainly would have said so had you heard 
their repeated thanks to me that evening, 
and whenever they called upon me since, 
because they did not know they would ever 
hear from him again until they, too, had 
reached the spirit side of life, and had not 
even dared to hope that they would do so. 

Are there any so filled with bigotry as to 
say this one simple message was not help- 
ful to them? If so let me say to such a one 
these people have said to me many times, 
that since that night they have looked upon 
life with a brighter, broader view. 

MEETING SPIBIT FRIENDS A CONSTANT JOY TO 
AN OLD INVESTIGATOR. 

I have known for the past eighteen years 
a gentleman to whom his weekly seance 
and communion with his loved friends on 
the spirit side has been the one bright 
place in an otherwise very monotonous 
life. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Helpful by Spirit Healing 

In our terminology, and especially when 
we consider our differences of opinion as to 
what is the correct term to use, we are very 
apt to lose sight of the object itself. But 
this time the thing of which I am going to 
speak as Spirit Healing you are at liberty 
to call Christian Science, Mental Healing, 
Mental Science, Magnetic Healing or, if 
you have any name better than these, call it 
by that, for as far as I am concerned it 
matters not by which or by what name it 
is called, for to me it emanates from the 
spirit. 

GOD COMMANDS MOSES TO HEAL. 

''And the Lord said unto Moses, Make 
thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole ; 
and it shall come to pass, that every one 
that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, 
shall live. 

127 



128 Spiritualism 

''And Moses made a serpent of brass, 
and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, 
that if a serpent had bitten any man, when 
he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived." 
—Numbers XXI, 8-9. 



NAAMAlSr KEQUESTED TO BATHE IN JOEDAN. 

''Now Naaman, captain of the host of the 
king of Syria, was a great man with his 
master, and honorable, because by him 
the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria ; 
he was also a mighty man in valor, but he 
was a leper. 

"And the Syrians had gone out by com- 
panies, and had brought away captive out 
of the land of Israel a little maid ; and she 
waited on Naaman 's wife. 

"And she said unto her mistress. Would 
God my lord were with the prophet that is 
in Samaria! for he would recover him of 
his leprosy. 

"And one went in, and told his lord, say- 
ing, Thus and thus said the maid that is 
of the land of Israel. 

"And the king of Syria said. Go to, go, 
and I will send a letter unto the king of 



Its Helpfulness 129 

Israel. And he departed, and took with 
him ten talents of silver and six thousand 
pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment. 

"And he brought the letter to the king of 
Israel, saying. Now when this letter is come 
unto thee, behold, I have therewith sent 
Naaman my servant to thee, that thou may- 
est recover him of his leprosy. 

"And it came to pass, when the king of 
Israel had read the letter, that he rent his 
clothes, and said. Am I God, to kill and to 
make alive, that this man doth send unto 
me to recover a man of his leprosy? where- 
fore consider, I pray you, and see how he 
seeketh a quarrel against me. 

"And it was so, when Elisha, the man of 
God, had heard that the king of Israel had 
rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, 
saying. Wherefore hast thou rent thy 
clothes? let him come now to me, and he 
shall know that there is a prophet in Israel. 

"So Naaman came with his horses and 
with his chariot, and stood at the door of 
the house of Elisha. 

"And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, 
saying. Go and wash in Jordan seven times, 



130 Spiritualism 

and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and 
thou shalt be clean. 

''But Naaman was wroth, and went 
away, and said. Behold, I thought. He will 
surely come out to me, and stand, and call 
on the name of the Lord his God, and strike 
his head over the place, and recover the 
leper. 

''Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of 
Damascus, better than all the waters of 
Israeli may I not wash in them, and be 
clean? So he turned and went away in a 
rage. 

"And his servants came near, and spake 
unto him, and said. My father, if the 
prophet had bid thee do some great thing, 
wouldest thou not have done itf how much 
rather then, when he saith to thee. Wash, 
and be clean! 

' ' Then went he down, and dipped himself 
seven times in Jordan, according to the say- 
ing of the man of God ; and his flesh came 
again like unto the flesh of a little child, and 
he was clean." — II Kings V, 1-14. 

As you read this account do you say of 
Naaman, "How foolish!" If so stop and 
think of your own friends and you are al- 



Its Helpfulness 131 

most sure to find amongst them those who 
will have absolute repugnance to doing the 
simple, easy things, especially if it be to 
heal them. It is almost certain to be so if 
they are people of wealth who are accus- 
tomed to luxury. 

As we take this view our criticism will be 
less severe of Naaman. The facts are 
these : Naaman had probably looked upon 
Elisha, the healer, as a very ordinary man 
with a large amount of fake in his pre- 
tended powers, who would and who should 
feel much honored and flattered by having 
such a distinguished caller, but instead of 
Elisha receiving Naaman with pomp or 
semi-royal state, he humbled him by not 
even taking the trouble to go and speak to 
him. This hurt Naaman 's pride and 
angered him. If we had been in Naaman 's 
place possibly we should have acted no bet- 
ter than he, if as well, but who shall say that 
this was not a part, an important part, of 
the healing process or treatment Elisha had 
to give. How many physicians with a prac- 
tice among the four hundred would have 
the courage to tell their patients to bathe 
in the nearby beaches or streams? And 



132 Spiritualism 

don't blame the doctors, either. They don't 
want to lose their practice, and they know 
that the average person would rather take 
a long expensive trip either to the waters 
of Germany or the Spas of England, and 
they are good, too, but it is the lack of faith 
in. the simple or easily accessible things 
that is the great stumbling block to all 
phases of healing outside of materia 
medica. 

This repugnance by many for doing the 
little things, such as exercising faith, often 
prevents the healing power from working. 
You will remember on one occasion the 
great Master said of a people and place — 
* ' That he could not do many mighty works 
there on account of their unbelief." 



HEALING BY THE CHURCHES. 

When we read accounts of healing being 
done in the churches of our Catholic friends 
by exhibiting the bone of one of their saints, 
how often we hear it denied and ridiculed 
by that world-wide authority, ' ' Mr. Know- 
it-all." Nevertheless, I believe it. Don't 
ask me how it is done or whether it's the 



7^5 Helpfulness 133 

bone or faith. I only know this, that the 
bone is the point of concentration and 
therefore the medium through which the 
healing spirit flows, and that the greater 
the faith the greater the cure, and 
should you ask those who have been 
healed their opinion, I believe the ma- 
jority would give the same reply that 
one young man gave to whom Jesus 
had given sight by anointing his eyes with 
clay, when he said, ''That all he knew he 
was once blind, but now he could see." Of 
course, they would alter the terms to suit 
their particular cases. What perfect non- 
sense argument is to those who have been 
healed. You may use all the philosophy 
and logic in the world, and to one who had 
been healed there would probably be only 
this reply, "I know I was sick and now I am 
well." 



JESUS HEALING ON THE SABBATH DAY. 

' ' And, behold, there was a man which had 
his hand withered. And they asked him, 
saying. Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath 
day? that they might accuse him. 



134 Spiritualism 

''And he said unto them, What man 
shall there be among you, that shall have 
one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sab- 
bath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift 
it out? 

"How much then is a man better than a 
sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well 
on the sabbath day. 

' ' Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth 
thine hand. And he stretched it forth ; and 
it was restored whole, like as the other. ' ' — 
St. Matthew XII, 10-13. 

At times as we view the past we are filled 
with pride, with the idea of the wonderful 
progress or evolution we have made, and 
yet when we consider the above case and 
realize what happens today to those who 
have the gift of healing and, like the great 
Master, desire to do good outside of the pre- 
scribed medical profession, there are those 
who will go a long way out of their way to 
cast doubt upon the work, methods, time 
and place of executing it. 

A MAN WHO HAD THE DEOPSY. 

"And, behold, there was a certain man 
before him which had the dropsy. 



Its Helpfulness 135 

''And Jesus answering spake unto the 
lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful 
to heal on the sabbath day? 

''And they held their peace. And he took 
him, and healed him, and let him go. ' ' — St. 
Luke XIV, 2-4. 



JESUS GIVES ABSENT TREATMENT. 

There are few of us, if any, but have 
heard the ignorant laugh at the thought of 
absent treatment, as they are ever ready to 
do about things they know nothing about, 
or that is beyond their conception. But the 
following is a case of absent treatment. 
Some will say. Oh, yes, but it was by Jesus. 
Surely, and did he not come as an example 
for us, to show us the way? Did he not say 
to his disciples that the works he had done 
they should do and greater if only they had 
faith? 

"When he heard that Jesus was come out 
of Judea into Galilee, he went unto him, 
and besought him that he would come downl 
and heal his son ; for he was at the point of 
death. 

"Then said Jesus unto him. Except ye 



136 Spiritualism 

see signs and wonders, ye will not believe. 

'^Tlie nobleman saitli unto him, Sir, come 
down ere my child die. 

"Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy 
son liveth. And the man believed the word 
that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he 
went his way. 

"And as he was now going down, his 
servants met him, and told him, saying, 
Thy son liveth. 

"Then enquired he of them the hour 
when he began to amend. And they said 
unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour 
the fever left him. 

"So the father knew that it was at the 
same hour, in which Jesus said unto him, 
Thy son liveth; and himself believed, and 
his whole house. 

"This is again the second miracle that 
Jesus did, when he was come out of Judeai 
into Galilee."— St. John IV, 47-54. 



DK. NEWTON. 

There lived in Yonkers a Dr. Newton 
who had this gift of healing to a marvelous 
extent. He would stand before a large au- 



Its Helpfulness 137 

dience and command those that were sick 
to be healed, and many a time they would go 
away leaving large quantities of crutches 
behind them. Reader, if you are in honest 
doubt on this subject try and find out what 
is being done to-day in these lines, and if 
you are not biased you will be surprised, 
interested and convinced. 



JESUS HEALED THOSE WHO NEEDED HIS HELP. 

"And the people, when they knew it, fol- 
lowed him : and he received them, and spake 
unto them of the kingdom of God, and 
healed them that had need of healing." — 
St. Luke IX, 11. 



HEALED BY LAYING ON" OF HANDS. 

'^And it came to pass, that the father of 
Publius lay sick of a fever and of a bloody 
flux : to whom Paul entered in, and prayed, 
and laid his hands on him, and healed him." 
—Acts XXVIII, 8. 



138 Spiritualism 

HEALED BY THE SPOKEN WORD. 

''And there sat a certain man at Lystra, 
impotent in his feet, being a cripple from 
his mother's womb, who never had walked: 

* ' The same heard Paul speak : who stead- 
fastly beholding him, and perceiving that 
he had faith to be healed, 

''Said with a loud voice. Stand upright 
on thy feet. And he leaped and walked." 
—Acts XIV, 8-10. 



HEALED BY MAGNETIZED AETICLES. 

"And Grod wrought special miracles by 
the hands of Paul : 

"So that from his body were brought 
unto the sick, handkerchiefs or aprons, and 
the diseases departed from them, and the 
evil spirits went out of them." — ^Acts XIX, 
11-12. 

In reading these accounts of healing in 
the Bible, don't lose sight of the fact that 
the Grod who gave Paul these special gifts 
is one and the same God you and I have to 
deal with, and healing by magnetic articles 
exists today as it did with Paul. 



Its Helpfulness 139 

ABSENT TREATMENT HEALS 3,000 MILES AWAY. 

Let me give you a case of absent treat- 
ment. I knew a lady in England who had 
developed a bad case of kidney trouble. 
She had consulted her family doctor and 
specialists, and they all reached the same 
conclusion, viz. : that without an operation 
she could not live three months. About the 
operation they were honest in telling her 
they had their doubts. 

In despair she wrote to a healer in New 
York and asked him what he thought she 
should do. The healer gave her his ideas, 
and said he believed he could help her. If 
she desired him to do so he would con- 
centrate for her and he should expect her 
to report progress every week. She ac- 
cepted his offer and was cured of her 
trouble without the operation, and is living 
today, although it is nearly eight years ago 
since the healer worked on her. For nearly 
two years previous to the time she wrote 
and during the time he was using his heal- 
ing power they did not come within ap- 
proximately three thousand miles of each 
other, and yet sooner than accept these un- 



140 Spiritualism 

deniable truths, there are many who die 
because they are not ready to claim their 
own. In my opinion these people cannot 
be helped until light dawns upon them, for 
we all know, to have a thing pushed upon 
us when we are not ready for it is but to 
drive us farther away. These people are 
not fools. They are just not ready for 
this larger truth. 



SUCH AS I HAVE I GIVE UNTO THEE." 

"Now Peter and John went up together 
into the temple at the hour of prayer, be- 
ing the ninth hour. 

"And a certain man lame from his 
mother's womb was carried, whom they 
laid daily at the gate of the temple which 
is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that 
entered into the temple ; 

"Who, seeing Peter and John about to 
go into the temple, asked an alms. 

"And Peter, fastening Ms eyes upon him 
with John, said, Look on us. 

"And he gave heed unto them, expecting 
to receive something of them. 



Its Helpfulness 141 

'■ ' Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I 
none ; but such as I have give I thee : In the 
name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up 
and walk. 

'^xind he took him by the right hand, 
and lifted him up : and immediately his feet 
and ankle bones received strength. 

''And he leaping up stood, and walked, 
and entered with them into the temple, 
walking, and leaping, and praising God. — 
Acts III, 1-8. 



HE LEFT HIS CANE HOME. 

I knew a man who had been sick with a 
bad knee for six months. He was under the 
care of a doctor at his home for eight 
weeks. In addition to that he had been in 
the hospital ten weeks, the remaining time 
he had cared for himself the best he could, 
and gradually getting worse the doctors 
had suggested an operation on the knee as 
a last resort, wliich alarmed him, because 
he reasoned if by cutting his knee should 
become permanently stiff, which he feared, 
it would debar him from making a living in 



142 Spiritualism 

Ms line of effort for his family atid himself, 
so he decided to go and see a healer before 
consenting to the operation. Therefore, 
one morning he called upon a healer, and 
the healer treated him and told Mm to come 
the next day. When the next day arrived 
he was so much better that he went to the 
healer's office without the use of the heavy 
cane he had become accustomed to use, and 
in about four weeks was sufficiently im- 
proved to begin work again. 



BECAUSE OF THEIE UNBELIEF. 

Does someone ask if I think everybody 
can be helped or cured by this phase of 
healing? To such inquirers let me say, 
*'No, I do not," and that because of their 
unbelief and their mental opposition. 



A CASE OF APPENDICITIS. 

In the early fall of 1913 I knew a gentle- 
man who was taken sick. He went to con- 
sult his physician, who examined him and 
told him he had appendicitis and should be 



Its Helpfulness 143 

operated on the next day. When he re- 
turned to his office he reported to his part- 
ner the result of his visit to his doctor and 
what the doctor had suggested about his 
being operated upon, adding, ' ' You know I 
have not the money and I cannot spare the 
time so long as I can keep going." His 
partner said to him, "Whenever I have 
anything the matter with me I go to a 
friend I have, who is a healer, and he al- 
ways helps me at once, and I believe he can 
help you and save you that operation. Let 
us go up and see him. " Accordingly they 
went to see the healer. He treated the man, 
who soon got well and did not have the 
operation. 

To apply to a mental or magnetic healer 
words of praise or call their work clever 
to me is totally out of place. They are but 
the instruments used, the same as the pipes 
which conduct the water or gas or the wires 
the electricity from the mains to your house 
for your use and convenience. It is true 
that the healers may be specially adapted 
for their work mentally and physically, but 
so are the pipes for your water and gas, 
your wires for electricity by shape, size, 



144 Spiritualism 

etc., but even so, though you had the finest 
fixtures in the world, if there was no source 
from which water, gas, electricity, etc., 
could be supplied they would avail you 
nothing, and though the most abundant 
ever of these things were at your door, un- 
less they were connected, attached, it would 
be as if they were not, and their existence 
and their use might be doubted. 

The source of healing is spirit (God) the 
healer, the connecting link of the great 
source with the afflicted, but the afflicted 
also play a great part; there must be on 
their part the willingness to receive. For 
example, you have an abundant supply of 
water in your house and you have a special 
bottle you want to fill with water. You 
turn on the faucet and the water flows 
freely. You hold the bottle underneath, 
but you find there is no water going into 
the bottle ; it is not filling. Why! Because 
the stopper is tightly pressed down in the 
bottle. Having had that experience, would 
you say you had your doubts that any bot- 
tle could be filled? I think not. Yet more 
than likely you have heard numbers of 
people say they had tried science, mental 



Its Helpfulness 145 

and magnetic healing and had gotten no 
good, and that they doubted very much if 
anybody did or could, and even those who 
said they had only thought so and were 
deceiving themselves. 

When you meet such a person again, ask 
them if they took the stopper out when the 
healing spirit was flowing all around them, 
and you will very likely find they did not or 
at most only partly so, by such remarks as 
the following: ''Oh, I only went to please 
so and so. " "I did not have a bit of faith in 
it. " ' ' I knew they could not cure me. " You 
see the stopper was tight in, or perhaps you 
may find by some such remarks as the fol- 
lowing it was slightly lifted up : "Well, you 
know I had a friend who was cured, so I 
said, well, if they can cure me I'm willing 
to let them have a try, and for the time be- 
ing I did seem improved, but I never ex- 
pected it would be permanent, and I soon 
got worse when I ceased taking treatment." 

Where permanent good is to be done the 
aflflieted must do their part by faith and 
willingness to be helped. When the noble- 
man came to Jesus asking him to come and 



146 Spiritualism 

heal his son, Jesus tried his faith, and after 
proving it said unto him, ' ' Go thy way, thy 
son liveth." The great healer was con- 
stantly urging faith, and wherever faith 
was exercised there followed health. 



ASTRAL BODIES AND 
THOUGHT FORMS 



CHAPTER IX 

Astral Bodies and Thought Forms. 

Messages given by mediums, as spirit 
messages, are often not so, not that the me- 
diums wish to deceive, for in the majority 
of cases I am convinced they desire to be 
truthful, honest, helpful ; but a great many 
of them have not reached a point in their 
consciousness where they realize that the 
astral bodies and thought forms travel at 
will, and never lose an opportunity of ex- 
pressing themselves when they find a me- 
dium by which they can do so. 

The astral body is the double of the 
physical body and is looked upon by the 
theosophist as an empty shell. 

Then there is yet the thought form for 
the medium and psychologist to contend 
with. As a rule you will find that the 
psychologist understands better about the 
thought form than the medium. I refer 
149 



150 Spiritualism 

specially to those who confine themselves 
to transmediumship, because the new psy- 
chologist is medium, and possibly more 
so than the ones who allow themselves to 
be entranced, only in a different and con- 
scious phase. The reason psychologists 
know more and better is that they are so 
much more frequently brought in touch 
with them, and that whilst perfectly nor- 
mal, conscious and in full possession of 
their reasoning facilities. 

As soon as the psychometrist and 
psychologist takes an article in his 
hand this usually happens — the conscious 
thoughts, sub-conscious and super-con- 
scious that have permeated it, pass before 
his clairvoyant vision which often seem a 
combination of the real and the prophetic. 

It is true there are many advanced think- 
ers who pooh-pooh the idea of thought 
forms, but why I fail to see, for everything 
we see from a grain of sand to the tallest 
skyscraper, and the starry heavens them- 
selves were first either the thought of God 
or man, and before they existed in the ma- 
terial forms we now behold existed in 
vision first. 



Its Helpfulness 151 

The psychologist or psychometrist under- 
stands this thought form because he is fre- 
quently brought into contact with it, for 
every time he takes an article to phychome- 
trize he at once gets the sub-conscious and 
the super-conscious thoughts that have 
been poured or pounded into the article by 
the owners; and not only have the condi- 
tions of the owners themselves permeated 
the articles, but their environments are 
often reflected in minute detail, the result 
of the delineation often being suprising 
and blending to the marvelous. In most 
cases they make no pretense of being 
spirits, yet frequently tell astonishing 
facts. 

It is by no means easy to say always what 
plane these visions belong to or come from. 
However, in my experience I have found 
the spirit forms much more ethereal and lu- 
minous than the astral, the astral usually 
being a gray or smoky blue color and the 
thought form less substantial looking and 
lighter in color than the astral, but never 
luminous like the spirit forms. 



152 Spiritualism 

THE THOUGHT BODY OP A YOUTH SEEN IN NEW 

YORK WITH HIS FATHER, WHILE HIS PHYS- 

ICAL, BODY WAS LIVING IN SWEDEN. 

One day a gentleman whom I had never 
seen before called upon me on business. As 
he entered he impressed me as an excep- 
tionally fine man, both mentally and 
physically, which during our conversa- 
tion proved correct. He stood six foot 
two, had broad shoulders and a mind 
in proportion. As he entered the thought 
body of his son also entered. Before 
discussing the business the father had 
come to see me upon, I said: "Your 
son comes in with you." "My sonT' 
"Yes, sir, and as he now steps to my 
side he holds a violin under his arm. He 
says he is seventeen years old, and will I 
please ask you to let him continue his violin 
lessons, as he wishes to make it his life 
work. His physical body is in Sweden." 
This gentleman exclaimed, "My heavens, 
that's the strangest thing I ever knew. I 
have a son seventeen who plays the violin, 
and he is home in Sweden with his mother, 
and I mailed a letter to his mother three 
days ago, which is on its way now, saying 



Its Helpfulness 153 

I had decided to let Mm continue his les- 
sons. You see I am in America trying to 
get your Government interested in a patent 
and I have spent so much money I had said 
to his mother I was not sure if I could allow 
him to continue his music. ' ' 



AN ASTRAL BODY RECOGNIZED BY A SISTER. 

I was entertaining friends and we were 
talking of psychic matters when I noticed 
an entity standing by a lady. It was that 
of a woman who looked about thirty years 
old. I described what I saw, when my 
guest said: '^Yes, I think I know who it 
is. ' ' The entity said : ' ' Oh, do not let there 
be any mistake ; tell her of a birthmark on 
my face!" My guest said: "I thought so, 
it's my sister; tell her to go back to — 
where she belongs and not be keeping tabs 
on me. ' ' However, the entity did not heed 
her sister's request at once, but stayed on 
a little longer, and stepped to my side and 
said to me: "I do wish you were one of 
us." It amused and interested me, and I 
said to the sister, ''What does she mean?" 
''Oh, I know. She belongs to a prominent 



154 Spiritualism 

occult society, and many of them have 
reached a point where they can project 
their astral bodies at will. It is wonderful 
the things they do, and how much of it they 
remember. She wishes you were a mem- 
ber. I'm glad you are not." 

MY OWN ASTKAIi VISITS FRIENDS WITHOUT ASK- 
ING MY PERMISSION. 

I have two friends living in a city in 
close proximity to New York. They had, 
as all my friends have, the privilege of 
thinking differently from myself if they 
desire to do so without interfering with 
the main bonds of our friendship, and on 
psychic matters these friends exercised 
this privilege. They had been married 
some years and were so placed that life had 
seemed like a summer holiday to them, 
when my friend, desiring to expand his op- 
portunities, invested what he had saved in 
a business proposition, which quickly 
proved a complete failure, and for many 
months following life instead of seeming 
like a summer holiday was decidedly its 
very reverse, until my friend made a con- 



Its Helpfulness 155 

nection with a firm that has made his life 
normal again. He had been connected with 
this firm a very few days, and I knowing 
nothing about it, when one night or morn- 
ing about 2 A. M. his wife woke up and 
saw me standing in their room (she is a 
nervous woman, yet she was not afraid, and 
at the moment it did not seem strange to 
her that I should be standing there), when, 
calling her by name, I said to her, "I am 
glad T has made this business connec- 
tion ; it is the end of your trouble and I be- 
lieve will lead to success," and with that 
I began to retreat, when, she said, she 
asked me to tell her more, and I said, *'I 
cannot, I must go back. ' ' 
At breakfast she thought she would tell 

T , but decided he would make fun of 

her and tell her she had been dreaming. 
However, at dinner she decided to tell him, 
and began by saying she had seen me in 
their room and that I had said to her — her 
husband said, ''Stop, I will tell you what 
he said. " " You will tell me what he said ? ' ' 
"Yes," he said, "he was glad I had made 
this business connection ; it was; the end of 
our trouble and that he believed it would 



156 Spiritualism 

lead to success." ''Why, how do you 
know?" ''Because today I worked on my 
books until 4 o'clock, when my eyes hurt 
me and I took off my glasses, put my elbow 
on the desk and my head in my hands and 
closed my eyes to rest them, when I real- 
ized Mr. F. was standing by my side, and 
then I heard him say as distinctly as I ever 

heard him in my life, ' T , I am glad you 

have made this connection ; it is the end of 
your trouble and I believe it will lead to 
success.' " 

It made so deep an impression on them 
that they called) me up on the 'phone, say- 
ing, "We want you to come to dinner any 
night this week that is convenient to you. 
We have something to tell you we think 
will be of interest to you. ' ' I set the night 
and went. After greeting me my friend's 

wife said T has made such and such a 

business connection. Turning to him, I 

said : ' ' T , I am very glad ; it means the 

end of your trouble, and I believe will lead 
to success." They both commenced to 
laugh heartily. I asked them what was 
the matter? for I could see nothing to 
laugh at, when they said; "No, but per- 



Its Helpfulness 157 

haps you will when we tell you." Then 
they related the above incident, and we all 
joked, laughed and were glad together. 

A THOUGHT CHILD TE NEW YOKK WHILST ITS 
PHYSICAIi BODY IS IN FLOKIDA. 

In the early spring one morning I was 
chatting with a lady, when there came and 
stood by her knee a little child, a girl that 
looked about four years old, with bright 
flaxen hair, wearing a Tuscan lace straw 
bonnet, trimmed with pink ribbon. I told 
the lady what I saw, remarking that the 
physical body of this child was a long way 
off and her bonnet should have been 
trimmed with blue ribbon and not pink. 
The lady smiled, saying, ''How very inter- 
esting. I must tell you about it, ' ' and pro- 
ceeded to say: "The father of this child 
is invahded at the present time, and with 
his wife and this child is at Palm Beach, 
Florida. I have been staying with them 
for a few weeks, and when I left, two 

weeks since, my friend, Mrs. , 

asked me to get the child a lace straw 
bonnet trimmed with blue ribbon. She 
was in a great hurry for it. The first 



158 Spiritualism 

thing I did when I got home was to look 
for a bonnet. I could not find one trimmed 
with bine, so sent what I could get that 
day, viz., pink. I was wondering if she 
had got it, but she must or the child could 
not be here with it on." Some will say, 
'*0h, my! just a case of thought transfer- 
ence." Yes, it might be partially that, but 
it was more besides, because the thought 
took on form so it could be seen clair- 
voyantly. 

FOR THOUGHTS ARE LIVING THINGS ON SWIFT 
CREATIVE WINGS. 

And why not? Some of our great think- 
ers have concluded that sound has color, 
and color form. Middle C taking the color 
of red and red the shape of the triangle, 
but here is the whole scale : 



Key 


Color 


Shape 


C 


Eed 


Triangle 


D 


Orange 


Square 


E 


Yellow 


Hexagon 


F 


Green 


Octagon 


G 


Blue 


Circle 


A 


Indigo 


Depressed circle 


B 


Violet 


Ovate 



Its Helpfulness 159 

The shape is the atomic arrangement of 
the atoms of color. Beyond this it has been 
stated by a trustworthy sensitive that 
these colors have perfume. I mean these 
psychic colors, and whilst I do not give 
this as a settled scientific fact, to me it is 
more than a possibility. Now, if sound has 
color and color shape, why should not 
thoughts have color and shape? As a mat- 
ter of fact, they have. 

Every normal thinking person knows 
that there is no distance thought cannot 
travel, no depth it cannot reach, no height 
it cannot attain, no circumference it cannot 
girdle, and to its expression there is no 
limit. Long years before we had the won- 
derful Marconigrams sending our thoughts 
tingling across the Atlantic and expressing 
themselves on the keyboard at the other 
side, there were scores of well authenti- 
cated cases of mental telepathy where dis- 
tance was no barrier. 

When we consider what has been done 
by the scientists since they have taken hold 
of the ether with Marconigrams, and the 
wires with the telephones, where men can 
talk to each other from San Francisco to 



160 Spiritualism 

New York, three thousand miles apart, and 
it sounds as if they were in the same build- 
ing only in another room, I believe these 
magnificent accomplishments are but as 
trifling playthings compared to what will 
be accomplished when science once seri- 
ously busies itself with the powers of 
thought. 

Does some one say, ' ' Oh, yes, but thought 
is such an intan^bje, ethereal, elusive kind 
of thing, and this is a practical, scientific 
day?" Yes, you are quite correct in what 
you say, and you are more than likely to 
know many of the practical, scientific 
things electricity supplies us with every 
day. Therefore let me ask you a few ques- 
tions about this practical, scientific thing 
so common in our homes and so necessary 
to our comfort, bearing always in mind 
**the luxury of today is the necessity of to- 
morrow." Have you ever seen electricity? 
Have you ever smelt it? Do you know just 
what it is ? If you can answer these ques- 
tions in the affirmative, give them out to 
the world and you will be doing it a great 
service. The world is waiting for it. Then 
if you cannot answer these seemingly 



Its Helpfulness 161 

simple questions regarding a thing known 
to have such inexhaustible strength, could 
you imagine anything more intangible, 
ethereal, elusive ? Then how has it become 
so practical? Because some of those with 
great scientific minds amongst us have 
studied until they have discovered some of 
its laws, and today they know how to use, 
control and govern them. 

Am I asked in turn if I have ever seen a 
thought, felt one, or know just what it is 
composed of? Now to these perfectly fair 
questions let me first give a candid and 
flat "no. " Then let me explain. I have seen 
thought express itself in form. You have 
seen electricity do the same. I have felt 
the force of one. You can feel the force of 
electricity. I have reason to believe it pro- 
ceeds from the ocean of thought, as elec- 
tricity proceeds from the great ocean of 
electricity. Then, after all, all that seems 
to be needed to put this power of thought 
in the most practical, helpful way in the 
world is for some of the great scientific 
minds to take up the study and find out its 
laws. So, like electricity, it may be gov- 
erned, controlled and used to human com- 



162 Spiritualism 

fort and advantage. I believe that will 
happen as soon as we are taught how it is 
possible for us to attune ourselves to those 
with whom we wish to commune. When 
that time comes, then no longer will those 
few people who send and receive messages 
from loved ones with whom they are in 
tune be looked upon as abnormal, uncanny 
or tricksters, but as normal, advanced 
people. 

Allen wrote: 
"Mind is the master power that rules and 

makes. 
And man is mind, and ever more he takes 
The tools of thought and shaping what he 

wills. 
Brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand 

ills. 
He thinks in secret, and it comes to pass, 
Environment is but his looking-glass." 

Yesterday a practical demonstration of 
the power of thought, through the channels 
of the mind, was brought to my attention. 

Needless to say, mind is the natural 
source of expression for thought, and when 
combined and directed by an intelligent 
mind is powerful in the extreme. 



Its Helpfulness 163 

I know a working man whose father as a 
young man was in the Civil War. Several 
years ago the father died, leaving his 
widow and family unprovided for. His son 
began to make an effort to get his mother 
the pension he thought was her due. He no 
sooner began than all the difficulties 
imaginable, and unimaginable, began to 
present themselves. For example, he found 
his father had enlisted twice and under two 
different names, which it seems was not an 
uncommon thing for men to do during the 
war. Then the Government naturally and 
rightly wanted the proof that his mother 
was the legal wife of his father, and the 
minister who married them being dead dif- 
ficulties arose in locating the records of so 
long ago. For years one difficulty after 
another kept presenting itself, and time 
after time his attorneys would make the 
claim, to be informed that there was yet 
further proof required before it could be 
granted. So one year followed another 
until it seemed as though the requirement 
of the nation could never be met. The 
one person who never gave up hope and 
who persistently thought some day the 



164 Spiritualism 

proof would be forthcoming was the son, 
who continued to work for that end, in sea- 
son and out of season, early and late, so 
when he made his last effort, which com- 
pletely satisfied the authorities and the 
pension was given, he was one of the hap- 
piest men I have seen for many daj^s. It 
was one of the greatest triumphs of thought 
and mind over difficulties I have ever seen, 
once again proving Allen's beautiful ex- 
pression of "Mind being the master 
power." 

A THOUGHT CANARY. 

One afternoon last week I was introduced 
to a gentleman, and whilst chatting I heard 
clairaudiently a canary singing in his at- 
mosphere, and I asked him if he had one 
in his home? He said, "No, why do you 
ask?" "Because a canary figures so 
strongly with you just now." He began 
to laugh. Then it was my turn to ask 
questions, so I asked: "Wliy do you 
laugh?" "Because I understand so fully 
the meaning of it I would like to tell you 
about it. Just now I am writing a story 



Its Helpfulness 165 

and a canary plays quite an important part 
in it." 

If we were needing a proof that 
''thoughts are living things," surely this 
would be one. This gentleman did not 
own or have a canary in his home, yet I 
heard a canary singing as distinctly as if I 
had been in a room where a live bird was 
expressing itself in song for his benefit. 

I am convinced when once we get the 
facts of what an important part thought 
plays we shall be careful what we think. Is 
the question asked, how can one help what 
they think? 0, easy, by refusing to en- 
tertain thoughts you do not want when they 
come to your thought chamber and ask to 
be let in, and in their place fill your thought 
chamber so full with thoughts you desire 
that there is not even standing room for 
those you do not want; you will find they 
will soon depart for more congenial sur- 
roundings. Have you ever realized how 
thought even changes our very appearance f 
There comes to my mind a man who for 
thirty years has been in the employ of 
my family as a shepherd. Whenever 
I looked at him it always seemed to me 



166 Spiritualism 



lie looked like a sheep, not sheepish, as 
if he had been doing something he was 
ashamed of, but kind and gentle, as he 
was. If you have had anything to do 
with sheep you know what kindly eyes 
and faces some have. Then how often 
you meet people in the streets, and you 
say of them, "They look horsey, or they 
look stagey, or like doctors, ministers, busi- 
ness men, bankers, lawyers, etc., etc.," be- 
cause the continual thought on certain lines 
has impressed itself on their features, 
which goes to prove "That as a man 
thinketh in his heart, so is he." Yes, 
thoughts leave their imprint, and the ab- 
sence of thinking also leaves its mark. At 
one time when I was in Europe and was 
spending a few days at the home of friends, 
they said, "We should like to write Mr. 

to come and meet you at dinner," andi 

they named a gentleman with whom I had 
been closely connected but whom I had not 
seen for several years. He was invited, 
came and went. They liked him as well as 
I did, but they also had not seen him for 
some time. That night when he left, my 
friends looked at me, and I at them. All 



Its Helpfulness 167 

our looks had a question mark in them. At 
last the gentleman in whose home I was 
staying said, ''WellT' Then I said, 

"What do you think of Mr. !" He 

said, ''He seems to me as if he had stojjped 
thinking about ten years ago." For a mo- 
ment I laughed, only for a moment, though, 
for it seemed so true and I felt so sad, be- 
cause it did seem true, and all I could say 
with the sadness I felt was "y-e-s." 

Keep your thinking machine busy grind- 
ing out thoughts. It will keep you young, 
and it is much better to work out than rust 
out. I don't .pretend to know much about 
machinery, but I do know whenever I see 
an old rusted-out piece of machinery it 
always depresses me. It gives one such a 
sense of encumbrance and uselessness. On 
the other hand a bright, well-oiled machine 
(it does not matter how old, whether in 
motion or not) gives one a feeling of 
prosperity and usefulness, and when the 
time comes when they have to be replaced 
by modern ones, it is often with regret. 
Keep your thinking machine not only busy, 
but well oiled with new thoughts, and 
when the call comes for vour removal 



168 Spiritualism 

it will be with regret your friends will lay 
you aside. But who regrets having a piece 
of old rusty machinery thrown upon the 
scrap heap? 



CHAPTER X. 

Spiritualism Helpful by the Demand It 
Makes for Intelligent Research. 

I know of no ''-ism" that calls for more 
careful research than spiritualism, or any 
that gives greater opportunity or greater 
return for the exercise of the mind. I know 
of no other "-ism" that carries beyond its 
beliefs its proofs as spiritualism does, and 
none that gives equal consolation and cour- 
age to the disconsolate and discouraged. 
Whilst it does these things it also does 
more by permeating all religions, teaching- 
ing spiritual truths. 

rev. h. r. haweis. 

One Sunday evening whilst attending the 
Episcopal Church in London, England, of 
which the late Rev. H. R. Haweis, M. A., 
was the vicar, I heard him make this state- 
ment: ''It is no use sneering at spiritual- 
ism, it's true and I know it's true from my 
own experience; and what is more, if you 

169 



170 Spiritualism. 

take Spiritualism out of the Bible you have 
not any Bible left that is worth having." 
In giving an address in St. James Hall, 
London, he said: 

^^I am putting in a plea for the harmony 
of Spiritualism with Scripture, in order 
that the clergy shall recognize how much 
they are indebted to Spiritualism. I 
don't say there are not great dangers in it; 
but they exist everywhere. They are not 
confined to Spiritualism. But I do say that 
the clergy, through Spiritualism, have had 
their Bible rehabilitated. We have had a 
new philosophical basis for immortality 
after that shock of atoms we call death. 
We find Spiritualism is not opposed to the 
Atonement (the reconciling of men to God), 
not opposed to the doctrine of the dead, not 
opposed to the communion of saints. 'Are 
not they all ministering spirits, sent forth 
to minister unto such as shall be heirs of 
salvation?' I say that Spiritualism has 
finally taken away from us the capricious, 
fanciful, irrational kind of God who is sup- 
posed to judge his creatures in a way that 
would be a disgrace to a common magis- 
trate, without intelligence, pity, sympathy 
or knowledge ; such a God as has revolted so 



Its Helpfulness 171 

many sensible religions people ; and Spirit- 
ualism lias done away with him. Spiritual- 
ism has pointed us to One who judges 
righteously; who does not change, who is 
the same yesterday, today and forever, lov- 
ing man through all, bringing liim back 
by slow degrees, back to the diviner life, to 
the realization of His diviner self; One 
whose policy can never alter, because He 
can never alter. Spiritualism has told us 
of this remedial world beyond. It points 
us to life, not death, for 
*' ' 'Tis life, not death, for which we pant; 
'Tis life of which our nerves are scant. 
More life and fuller that we want. ' 

' ' Yes, it leads us to the center and source 
of life ; it reveals to us the bright galaxy of 
ministering spirits, the Jacob's ladder 
which reaches from earth to heaven and 
ujDon which the angels of God are ascending 
and descending. Spiritualism has given us 
back our Bible, given us back our Christ, 
given us back our immortality, and given 
us back our God." 

Spiritualism calls for careful research, 
lest one be deceived, by phenomena mis- 
understood, or messages misinterpreted. 
When these researches are made with any 



172 Spiritualism 

kind of system, they open up many ave- 
nues of thought and' information that when 
followed lead to a liberal education. 

The other Sunday morning I heard a 
prominent minister in New York make the 
statement that many people live in a 
religious experience that they had had ten, 
twenty, thirty or fifty years ago, and that 
they stood still he did not wonder ; that re- 
ligion to be what it should be must be pro- 
gressive. 

Spiritualism gives to the thinker ample 
food for thought by its varied phenomena ; 
thought is naturally the first step to pro- 
gression. 

The following is from Dr. J. M. Peebles* 
book, '*Who Are These Spiritualists?" 



VICTOBIEN SAKDOU. 

Victorien Sardou, writer, author and 
great French dramatist, wrote thus to his 
friend, M. Jules Bois : 

*'My Dear Confrere: I was one of the 
earliest students of Spiritism. That was 
about fifty years ago. I have passed from 
incredulity to surprise, and from surprise 
to conviction. 



Its Helpfulness 173 

''It would take a volume to answer you. 
I therefore limit myself to giving you the 
conclusions I have reached after half a 
century of observations and experiments. 

"Material phenomena observed under 
rigorously scientific conditions, and 
vouched for by scientists of whose names I 
need not remind you, are certainly no 
longer contestable. 

"But, as a rule, they are also inexplicable 
at the present stage of our knowledge. 

"In a great number of cases it is impos- 
sible to deny the intervention of an intel- 
lect of the spectators. Impossible also to 
deny that this intelligent force is neither 
the projection nor result of their own 
thoughts. From the production of certain 
phenomena we must admit the effective 
presence of occult beings, the exact nature 
of whom it has been so far impossible to 
define exactly. 

"But, then, how can one say so without 
being covered with ridicule? How would 
one dare to face the disgusting ignorance 
that prevails even among so-called educated 
people, dare to assert that these beings are 
not chimerical, and that our beautiful (?) 
humanity is not the work of creation? 



174 Spiritualism 

''And so, in order to escape the raillery 
of official science, the skepticism of igno- 
ramuses and witty people (who so often are 
fools!) we try to explain away cases by 
psendo-scientific hypotheses which are very 
funny to people who know what I know, 
who have seen what I have seen, and have 
done what I have done. 

"You ask me whether I believe in ma- 
terialization. Of course I do, because I 
have myself caused spirits to materialize at 
the tirst epoch when I was a medium. And 
I still await the scientific man who will suc- 
cessfully explain, as a psychical force of 
which I should have been at once the au- 
thor, spectator and victim, the fact that a 
bunch of roses which I still preserve was 
thrown upon my writing table by an invisi- 
ble hand. 

"Finally, about the first drawings to 
which you allude, I obtained the first ones 
in 1857, under conditions identical with 
those of M. Demoulin's more recent experi- 
ences. But I have long since learned to be- 
lieve that these pretended pictures of plane- 
tary life had no real value as documents of 
information. 

"They are just about as good for that 



Its Helpfulness 175 

purpose as the famous Martian language, 
which some playful ghost lately tried to 
palm off upon us. 

''There, my dear confrere, you have a 
summary of the conclusions I have reached 
from my own experiences with the inhab- 
itants of the world beyond. It does not 
amount to much, you see. And yet I feel 
I have not lost the time I devoted to the 
study of these things. Amicable saluta- 
tions. "V. Saedotj.'' 



SIE OLIVEE LODGE. 

London, England, November 22. — Sir 
Oliver Lodge, president of the Society for 
Psychical Eesearch and one of the leading 
and most prominent of English scientists, 
formerly president of the Society for the 
Advancement of Science, in a lecture today 
in Browning Hall, Walworth, made an im- 
pressive declaration of knowledge of con- 
tinued life in spirit realms, stating his 
positive and absolute conviction of future 
existence, asserting that he had conversed 
with friends whom the world calls dead. 

"Once you realize that consciousness is 
something outside of the mechanism it 



176 Spiritualism 

makes use of," Sir Oliver said, "you realize 
that the survival of existence is the simplest 
thing. 

"It is unreasonable that the soul should 
jump out of existence when the body is de- 
stroyed. We ourselves are not limited to 
the few years that we have lived on this 
earth. We shall go on without it ; Ave cer- 
tainly shall continue to exist; we certainly 
shall survive. 

"Why do I say that? I say it on definite 
scientific grounds ; I say it because I know 
that certain friends of mine still exist, be- 
cause I have talked to them. Communica- 
tion is possible, but one must obey the laws 
to find out the conditions. I do not say it 
is easy, but I say it is possible, and I have 
conversed with them as I could converse 
with any one in this audience now. 

"Being scientific men they have given 
proof that it is real, not an impersonation, 
not something emanating from myself. 
They have given definite proofs, some of 
which are being published. Many are being 
withheld for a time, but will be published 
later. 

"I tell you it is so with all the strength 
of conviction that I can muster ; that it is so 



Its Helpfulness 177 

that we do persist ; that people still take an 
interest in the things that are going on; 
that they still help us and know more about 
things than we do, and that they are able 
from time to time to communicate with us. 

''I know that man is surrounded by other 
intelligences. If you once step beyond man 
there is no limit until you come to the In- 
finite Intelligence Himself. Once having 
gone beyond man you go on and must go 
on until you come to God. 

''But it is no strange land to which I 
am leading you, the cosmos. We here on 
this planet are limited in certain ways and 
blind to much that is going on, but I tell 
you we are surrounded by beings working 
with us, co-operating, helping, such as 
people in visions have had some perception 
of. That which religion tells us saints and 
angels are, and that the Master Himself 
is helping us is, I believe, literally true. ' ' 



EEV. B. F. AUSTIN. 

''After some years of investigation, 
under a great variety of circumstances, I 
dare affirm that the ethical system taught 



178 Spiritualism 

in these spirit communications has never 
been surpassed in the lofty character of the 
duties it proclaims, or the power and va- 
riety of the motives it urges to secure 
obedience to law. 

''The spiritual beauty, inherent divinity 
of many of these spirit messages, renders 
the thought of their diabolical origin a 
moral impossibility and the expression of 
that thought a blasphemy." 



SPIRITUALISM 

ITS DANGER 



CHAPTER XI. 

"Angels and Ministers of Grace defend 
us!" — Shakespeare. 

In the previous chapters we have seen 
the truth and helpfulness of spiritualism. 
Therefore, let us be honest with ourselves 
and look in the face just as squarely its 
dangers. Does this term danger offend 
some sincere devout Soul, who has ever 
looked upon spirits, one and all, as being 
the messengers of truth and wisdom at all 
times and in all places. To such a one I 
have no apologies. On the other hand, if it 
leads to opening their eyes to the facts 
that frequently spirits returning bring 
messages, so far from truth and wisdom 
that one could easily imagine them being 
the very father of lies and denizens of the 
blackness of darkness, therefore the neces- 
sity of testing the spirits to see if they be 
of God or not is a command based upon 

181 



182 Spiritualism 

good reason. If you have imagined the lay- 
ing aside of the physical body at death was 
instantly going to alter the whole habits of 
your past life, giving in place of ignorance 
profound wisdom, in place of hate deep- 
rooted love, in place of falsehood truth, in 
place of every phase of dishonesty honesty 
of thought, word and deed, for the use of 
alcohol and tobacco in their varied forms 
total abstinence, in place of the habits which 
have been your undoing and ruin, spirit- 
ually and physically, a total cessation, if so 
awake from your slumber and realize that 
life here or on the next plane of action, or 
any plane of conscious or unconscious ac- 
tion, is evolution, and to reach the oppo- 
sites of the things that have been our 
failures, faults, drawbacks, ignorances, en- 
vies, hatreds and besetments, of whatever 
nature they may be, are only gained by de- 
sire and persistent effort. This being so, 
what right have you to swallow for gospel 
truth any old yarn a spirit may tell you 
without knowing something of the char- 
acter of the spirit communicating. If you 
do, one day you are likely to be very dis- 
appointed. 



Its Danger 183 

WE TAKE CHAEACTER WITH TJS TO THE NEXT 
PHASE OF LIFE. 

Some tell us ''that when we go hence we 
take nothing with us." I want to tell you 
we do. We take our characters, and that 
whether they be good or bad, and to im- 
prove them even on the spirit plane is not 
accomplished without work and action on 
our part. 

WILL HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. 

Does some one say, '*0h, my! If spir- 
ituaUsm holds in its ranks such spirits as 
these, the untruthful, dishonest and evil, 
I will have nothing to do with it. ' ' Let me 
tell you it does hold just such spirits as 
these — that is, the spirit plane does — and 
that your refusal to believe it and de- 
cision to remain in darkness or ignorance 
does not protect you from the attack 
of these spirit vampires, but makes you 
a more easy prey to their vicious and 
damaging attacks. Neither does your re- 
fusal to believe alter the fact that unde- 
veloped spirits do exist and that the great- 
est help to progression for them often 



184 Spiritualism 

comes from this plane of existence, and 
whilst it is plainly your duty and mine to 
protect ourselves from their viciousness, it 
may be equally plainly our duty to help 
them to progress. If some one who had 
seen and knew that your house was on fire 
should come in and tell you so, would you 
say, "Oh, my! I'll just lock myself in my 
room and have nothing to do with it if it's 
a house of that kind. ' ' Would your refusal 
to accept the truth about your house or see 
it put out the destructive fire or save you 
or your house ? Would it not be more wise 
to call the fire department and do all you 
could to save it and not only it, but other 
good houses from catching fire! Would the 
fact that your house had caught fire be any 
proof that all houses must be unfit to live 
in? Neither does the fact that there are 
many bad spirits prove that all are bad. 
And many of us know they are not. 

HAD THEIB TICKETS FOE THE MATINEE. 

Or would you prefer to be like a lady 
(whom a very close friend of mine met one 
day on Thirty-ninth Street between Fifth 
and Sixth Avenues), and who, on seeing 



Its Danger 185 

volumes of black smoke filling the street, 
stopped liim, saying, ''Will you kindly 
tell me where the fire is." "Yes, madam, 
it is in the Casino Theatre." Smiling 
very sweetly she said, ''Thank you, but 
that is impossible, for my husband and 
I have tickets for the matinee," and 
on she went and did not stop or believe 
until she reached where she could see 
the fire and feel the heat, and then, and 
not until then, she realized it was a matinee 
of destruction and not of amusement. 



FOR TEUTH AND INSTRUCTION. 

If you have done, if you are doing any 
investigation into these psychic matters, 
you, like this matinee lady, have got your 
ticket — ^hers was for entertainment ; yours, 
I am sure, is for truth and instruction. 
Ever keep that its aim and object, and if 
the truth and instruction come in a form 
you do not expect, or a quarter you did not 
look for, do not say "It's impossible," but 
rather take warning and beware lest a 
greater disappointment meet you at the 
very door, as it did this Matinee Lady, 
and in the very place you expect to find 



186 Spiritualism 

only the things of love and beauty, you find 
destruction. 



UNDESIRABLE RESULTS. 

In my judgment spiritualism when en- 
tered upon in the spirit of folly is extremely 
dangerous, and in that condition it is very 
possible and likely that undesirable results 
will follow. 

ALL NATURE DANGEROUS WHEN HANDLED IN 
IGNORANCE. 

But why say because it is dangerous you 
will have nothing to do with it ? If you give 
up everything that is dangerous you will 
almost feel like giving up living. Just look 
at the very things that enter into our every- 
day life. Mother earth occasionally sends 
forth her volcanic rumblings, and then 
opens and swallows us up. The seas and the 
rivers now and again lash themselves into 
furies, smashing the crafts that float upon 
their bosom and drowning their occupants. 
The soft zephyrs of summer forget their 
softness and express themselves in the hur- 
ricane, destroying life and property. Th6 



Its Danger 187 

sunshine is welcome to most for its heat 
and light, yet to those who are exposed too 
much to it sunstroke and death follow. 
Fire, whilst so useful for our needs and 
comforts, puts whole nations in sorrow 
when it destroys life, as it did when it con- 
sumed the ''General Slocum" on the 
Sound, taking a toll of hundreds of lives. 

Similarly could be enumerated practi- 
cally the whole necessities of life and ex- 
istence, showing their dangers and our 
ignorance of their laws, but not one of 
these things but can be converted to our 
advantage the moment we discover the law 
by which we can control them. 

CONTROL YOUESELF. 

Then instead of being anxious, as many 
good people are, of being "controlled by 
the spirits," be anxious of knowing first 
how to control yourself and keeping out- 
side undesirable controls. One day a minis- 
ter asked me "If I allowed any spirits to 
control me. ' ' I replied by asking him " If he 
allowed any old tramp to come in off the 
street and use the best parlor in his parish 
house?" He said, "Why, no!" "Then 



188 Spiritualism 

why should you expect me to allow any old 
tramp spirit you or any one might bring 
along to use this, my house of clay, my 
body, which is of much more importance 
and more easily soiled than your parish 
house?" At first he seemed shocked at my 
speaking in this way of spirits. (Don't you 
be shocked, it's the truth.) Then he said, 
' ' He had never thought of it in that way. ' ' 

CONTROL BY PEENICIOUS SPIRITS DANGEROUS. 

It is a very undesirable thing for any me- 
dium to allow themselves to be controlled 
by pernicious spirits everywhere awaiting 
just such opportunities. Beware of such! 

IGNORANCE. 

The chief danger of spiritualism lies in 
ignorance. I do not believe that ''where 
ignorance is bliss 'tis folly to be wise." Ig- 
norance may be content, but does it ever 
reach the exalted state of bliss? It seems 
to me knowledge must stand for strength 
and ignorance for weakness. 

OBSESSION NOTHING NEW. 

Obsession or possession by evil spirits 
has existed from the earliest times, as rec- 



Its Danger 189 

ords show, and probably as long as there 
have been human beings to obsess or 
possess. Today it is probably a thousand 
times more prevalent than is dreamed of, 
helping to break up happy homes and do- 
ing its full part to fill insane asylums and 
prisons. Believing this statement, I feel I 
should be very derelict in my duty if I did 
not herald it forth and do my part to stem 
the tide. ; < 



CHAPTER XII. 

Obsession. 

"And he called unto him the twelve and 
began to send them out two by two; and 
gave them power over unclean spirits." 

HE DWELT IN THE TOMBS AND THE MOUNTAINS. 

Let US look at some of these cases of 
obsession and see how the victims have 
acted. 

''And they came over unto the other side 
of the sea, into the country of Gadarenes. 

"And when he was come out of the ship, 
immediately there met him out of the tombs 
a man with an unclean spirit. 

"Who had his dwelling among the tombs ; 
and no man could bind him, no, not with 
chains : 

"Because that he has been often bound 
with fetters and chains, and the chains had 
been plucked asunder by him, and the fet- 
ters broken in pieces; neither could any 
man tame him. 

190 



Its Danger 191 

''And always, night and day, he was in 
the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, 
and cutting himself with stones. 

''But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran 
and worshipped him. 

"And cried with a loud voice, and said. 
What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou 
Son of the most high God? I adjure thee 
by God, that thou torment me not. 

"(For he said unto him. Come out of 
the man, thou unclean spirit.) 

"And he asked him. What is thy name? 
And he answered, saying. My name is Le- 
gion : for we are many. 

"And he besought him much that he 
would not send them away out of the coun- 
try. 

"Now there was there nigh unto the 
mountains a great herd of swine feeding. 

"And all the devils besought him, say- 
ing, Send us into the swine, that we may 
enter into them. 

"And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. 
And the unclean spirits went out, and en- 
tered into the swine ; and the herd ran vio- 
lently down a steep place into the sea (they 
were about two thousand), and were choked 
in the sea."— Mark V, 1-13. 



192 Spiritualism 

HE CAST OUT DEVILS WITH HIS WORD. 

"When tlie even was come, they brought 
unto him many that were possessed with 
devils ; and he cast out the spirits with his 
word, and healed all that were sick." — 
Matthew VIII, 16. 

These undeveloped spirits are frequently 
called devils, unclean and so forth. 



THEY CAST OUT AND HEALED. 

"And they cast out many devils, and 
anointed with oil many that were sick, and 
healed them."— Mark VI, 13. 

The fame of the great healer and ex- 
orcist had spread abroad, and whilst the 
methods were new and doubted by those 
who had not the misfortune to be obsessed 
themselves or their loved ones, yet there 
were many who, like the Syrophenician, 
had loved ones who were, and their relief 
and well-being were of more importance to 
them than their own life. These questioned 
not the methods. Their anxiety and faith 
were only for relief, and to such it was 
given. 



Its Danger 193 

FOE THIS SAYIISTG THE DEVIL IS DEPORTED. 

"For a certain woman, whose young 
daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of 
him, and came and fell at his feet : 

"The woman was a Greek, a Syrophen- 
ician by nation ; and she besought him that 
he would cast forth the devil out of her 
daughter. 

"But Jesus said unto her. Let the chil- 
dren first be filled: for it is not meet to 
take the children's bread, and to cast it 
into the dogs. 

"And she answered and said unto him. 
Yes, Lord : yet the dogs under the table eat 
of the children's crumbs. 

"And he said unto her. For this saying 
go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy 
daughter."— Mark VII, 25-29. 

When these obsessing spirits once get 
settled they dislike being disturbed. The 
very presence of the Great Teacher was dis- 
turbing to them, because undeveloped as 
they might be, they recognized in Him this 
marvelous power and authority as an ex- 
orcist and frequently they cried out and 
would make their victims do all kinds of 
antics and undignified performances. 



194 Spiritualism 

'^I KNOW THEE WHO THOU AET.'' 

''And in the synagogue there was a man, 
which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and 
cried out with a loud voice, 

* ' Saying, Let us alone ; what have we to 
do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art 
thou come to destroy us ? I know thee who 
thou art ; the Holy one of God. 

''And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold 
thy peace, and come out of him. And when 
the devil had thrown him in the midst, he 
came out of him, and hurt him not. ' ' — Luke 
IV, 33-35. 

HE IS A LUNATIC. 

"And when they were come to the multi- 
tude there came to him a certain man, 
kneeling down to him, and saying. 

"Lord, have mercy on my son; for he is 
a lunatic, and sore vexed; for ofttimes he 
falleth into the fire, and oft into the water. 

"And I brought him to thy disciples, and 
they could not cure him. 

' ' Then Jesus answered and said, faith- 
less and perverse generation, how long 
shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer 
you? bring him hither to me. 



Its Danger 195 

"^ And Jesus rebuked the devil ; and he de- 
parted out of him ; and the child was cured 
from that very hour." — Matthew XVII, 
X4-18. 

A SAD CASE. 

The above account is sad, yes, very sad, 
for a young man to be made a lunatic by 
these elementals, but not one whit more 
sad than cases I have known of personally, 
especially of one lady who for years was 
conscious of what was her trouble and 
dared not let it be known, as day and night 
she was tormented by hearing spirit voices 
talking foolishness and if possible singing 
more foolish songs. In its earlier stages 
I had been able to give some relief, but 
the family regarded the case lightly, be- 
ing entirely ignorant that obsession was 
possible, until it had destroyed her rea- 
son. After the family physician and 
their spiritual adviser had failed to help 
her, and hearing from her daughter I 
had been of help to her previously they 
advised the family to have me sent for 
at once and see her, but, alas! the spirits 
had gotten too firm a hold and it had 



196 Spiritualism 

to be said of me, as was said of the 
disciples, that I could not cast them out. 

I do not quote the doctor and the pastor 
in sarcasm or ridicule. Nothing of the 
kind. Considering the schools of thought 
to which they both belonged, it was a lib- 
eral thing to the last degree for them to 
desire me to be called. Probably the doctor 
did not know what was the matter, but the 
pastor did, for he was well acquainted with 
the scripture accounts of obsession; he also 
knew what his church taught on the sub- 
ject, and had been called upon to use his 
power as an exorcist before. However, in 
such cases, it seems to me a concerted ef- 
fort should be made where one is unsuc- 
cessful alone. 

If there were only this one case (and 
there are more to follow) would it not sug- 
gest the possibilities that many cases of 
supposed hallucination are in truth cases 
of obsession, and that it might be well be- 
fore confining for life such victims in luna- 
tic asylums, either public or private, to give 
a powerful exorcist the opportunity to try 
what could be done to help and save them. 
Our authorities might find it not only better 



Its Danger 197 

for the individual, but more economical to 
the state. 

A DIFFEEENT WAY. 

Bead the following account, not as show- 
ing a specially bad case to handle, but a 
different form of handling : 

*'Let our Lord now command thy ser- 
vants, which are before thee, to seek out a 
man who is a cunning player on an harp ; 
and it shall come to pass when the evil 
spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall 
play with his hands, and thou shalt be well. 

''And Saul said unto his servants. Pro- 
vide me now a man that can play well, and 
bring him to me. 

' ' Then answered one of the servants, and 
said. Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the 
Beth-lehemite, that is cunning in playing, 
and a mighty valiant man, and a man of 
war, and prudent in matters, and a comely 
person, and the Lord is with him. 

"Wherefore Saul sent messengers unto 
Jesse, and said. Send me David thy son, 
which is with the sheep. 

"And Jesse took an ass laden with bread, 
and a bottle of wine, and a kid, and sent 
them by David his son unto Saul. 



198 Spiritualism 

"And David came to Saul, and stood be- 
fore him : and he loved him greatly ; and he 
became his armour-bearer. 

''And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, Let 
David, I pray thee, stand before me, for he 
hath found favour in my sight. 

"And it came to pass, when the evil 
spirit from God was upon Saul, that David 
took a harp, and played with his hand; so 
Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the 
evil spirit departed from him. ' ' — I Samuel 
XVI, 16-23. 

DISCOKD. 

Evil is another word for discord. Why 
in our various places of worship do we usu- 
ally begin the service with the singing of 
appropriate music? So that at the very 
beginning our spirits are at peace and 
harmony and evil thoughts dissipated. The 
importance of this has come to be recog- 
nized as so vital that even whilst the con- 
gregation is assembling it is not unusual 
to hear a fine organ or harp solo. Bear this 
in mind and then for a moment let your 
mind call to remembrance some of the in- 
harmonious drunken brawls you have heard 
in passing some low gin palace, which you 



Its Danger 199 

instinctively felt was calculated to raise all 
the evil desires in your nature, then men- 
tally note what your own feelings have 
registered between the difference of har- 
mony and discord — development or unde- 
velopment — good or evil. 

THE SOLACE AND REST OF MUSIC. 

Have you never been feeling low spirited 
or tired or unwell, and against your desire 
dragged yourself to keep an engagement at 
some musical — either for the sake of keep- 
ing your word with your host or pleasing 
your wife or your fiancee, when truly you 
felt more like going to bed? and before you 
have realized it you have forgotten to be 
cross, tired or unwell, and when the time 
has come to go home you realized you were 
feeling fine and had had a pleasant time, 
and even the next morning went to your 
office with a brighter viewpoint. Keep 
yourself (your spirit) in the spirit of music 
(harmony) whatever environments your 
physical body may have to be surrounded 
with. You will find it pays and that your 
own spirit or mind will unfailingly alter 
your environment. 



200 Spiritualism 

NOT ALWAYS A CASE OF LIKE ATTRACTS LIKE. 

In speaking of cases of spirit obsession 
and evil spirits, one often hears the inex- 
perienced say, ''Well, like attracts like." 
Maybe it does, but in cases of obsession it 
scarcely plays any part. Some of the most 
desirable people that ever lived have been 
the victims of evil spirits. 

JESUS IS TEMPTED OF THE DEVIL. 

Would anybody say that the devil or 
evil spirit tempted the Nazarene, the 
great teacher Jesus, because he had any- 
thing in common or unison with the evil 
one"? I think not. 

FEIGHTENED BY AN OBSESSING SPIRIT. 

Some little time ago a lady and \her 
daughter called upon me knowing I had the 
gifts of clear vision, clairaudience and of 
exorcism that the lady might ask my aid to 
release her from the power of an evil spirit 
who talked to her so much night and day 
that she was afraid often to stay in her 
house, and when out afraid to go in again. 
I was glad to be, or try to be, of service to 



Its Danger 201 

her. I began by describing a spirit I saw 
near her, and she said that was the one 
that was giving her the trouble. I then re- 
quested him to leave this woman, and he re- 
phed, saying, '^He would leave when he 
pleased and not before." I then began to 
demand him to leave, and he told me ''to go 

to " and became very abusive to me, 

his language not fit to repeat. However, I 
had seen and heard the same kind of spirits 
before, therefore I kept on demanding him 
to leave till at last he shouted in a loud 
voice, "If I did not stop ordering him 
away he would choke her and me both to 
death. ' ' This she heard as clearly as I, and 
it so frightened her that she almost fainted. 
She feared he would carry out his threat. 
He gained his object, viz., by driving her 
away and keeping his hold upon her. No 
one doubted the goodness and sincerity of 
this lady. I knew her to be an earnest 
seeker after truth, and like many others she 
made it a habit of attending first one and 
then another seance or developing class, 
just giving such a spirit as this the very 
opportunity it wanted to attach itself to 
some unsuspecting soul to annoy, perplex 
and injure as much as possible. 



202 Spiritualism 

PUBLIC CIRCLES AND DEVELOPING CLASSES. 

Taking such public circles and so-called 
developing classes as I have seen, as ex- 
amples (and I have seen many), I thor- 
oughly disapprove of them. The places of 
such meetings, I regret to say, I have found 
as a rule thoroughly unventilated, and not 
infrequently stuffy and dusty, and such 
general conditions as would be calculated 
to attract evil, undeveloped, earth-bound, 
elemental spirits to hang around waiting to 
grasp the unwary. When these classes hap- 
pen to be dark ones, surely there is nothing 
lacking to prevent these borderland spirits 
from fulfilling their desire. 

The tiling to be wondered at most is that 
not more people are obsessed. To prevent 
this get as much knowledge on this subject 
as possible and the moment you suspect 
that such are trying to control you ask the 
Great Spirit to send to you good minister- 
ing spirits to aid you and prevent them, and 
whilst such victory may by no means be 
easy, it will be certain with hosts of the 
righteous on your side. 



Its Danger 203 

WHAT OP THESE EVIL UNDEVELOPED SPIEITsF 

What of these evil, undeveloped spirits ! 
Are they to be left through time and etern- 
ity unhelped, unaided to a better life. 
These spirits were once men and women 
like ourselves. Eemember when Jesus 
left here ''he went and preached to 
the spirits in prison," and these earth- 
bound entities are in prison by their own 
will and ignorance. Some have been there 
hundreds of years trying to satisfy their 
earthly desires by obsession, and in that 
way getting second-hand satisfaction. The 
angels of light minister to them at every 
opportunity, but they can often be reached 
better from our plane than the spiritual, 
therefore it may be your duty and your spe- 
cial privilege to minister unto them. I be- 
lieve it is some ministers' (mediums') spe- 
cial gift to do so. I also believe that if any 
medium requires special gifts, it is he 
himself called to do this work, and I believe 
that no ordination, or the laying on of 
hands, or apostolic succession is needful, 
the one essential being the gift from the 
Father. 



204 Spiritualism 



NO TWO CASES ALIKE. 

As we do not find two faces just exactly 
the same, neither do we find two cases of 
obsession the same either in form or object. 

A HOTEL MAN. 

I once knew a much respected hotel man. 
He had been employed in that business in 
the city many years, and was known for his 
reliability. He became interested in 
psychic matters and began investigating in 
the ordinary way, viz., by attending miscel- 
laneous psychic meetings. This went on for 
a considerable time, when he began showing 
signs of irritability. He had a wife and 
little daughter to whom he was much de- 
voted, and they to him, but his condition 
reached such a stage when they sat down to 
meals there came over him the most un- 
natural desire to spank or physically hurt 
this child in some way or other. Fortu- 
nately he did not yield. It was to me 
clearly a case of obsession. 

ANOTHER HOTEL MAN. 

I knew also another man in New York 
City employed in this same business, and 



Its Danger 205 

none more highly respected and trusted for 
sobriety (he had never been intoxicated in 
his life), integrity, etc., etc. He was a man 
of average intelligence, and the most 
devoted son to his parents I ever knew. 
He was for many years deeply interested 
in spiritualism and frequently saw its 
phenomena. At this time in appearance 
I would consider him a typical hotel man — 
stout, ruddy, etc., etc. He became nervous, 
began losing flesh until he became a mere 
shadow of his former self, and that without 
seemingly any cause. He tried doctors, 
rest and change without success. It was 
clearly a case of obsession, only expressing 
itself differently from any other I had seen. 
Does some reader say this man is a crank 
about obsession! Oh, no! nor about any- 
thing else. Those who know me credit me 
with the full amount of common sense and 
more than the average amount of liberality 
in my opinions of giving others credit for 
correct thinking as well as myself. Then 
does some one say, might not this last case 
be something else besides obsession? Yes, 
but it was not. 



206 Spiritualism 

AEE HOTELS HOTBEDS FOR OBSESSION F 

Does the question arise, Are hotels and 
spiritualistic meeting places hotbeds for 
obsession? Those questions cannot be an- 
swered with a flat definite yes or no, be- 
cause some confuse and class as one a low 
drinking dive with the most reputable 
hotel, and a fake spiritist meeting with the 
peace-giving, uplifting influence of a spir- 
itualists' meeting. 

Our hotels have largely become residen- 
tial, and practically entirely so if we con- 
sider them as homes (residences) for 
people from home. Who would think of 
these as drinking shops? 

WHEEE SPIRITUAL TRUTH IS TAUGHT. 

Where do spiritualists have meetings'? 
Anywhere, everywhere, where spiritual 
truth is taught — true spiritualism (do not 
confuse with spiritism) is no respecter of 
creed or place, and permeates all truth. 

CONSENSUS OF OPINION. 

The consensus of opinion of the most 
able, reliable investigators of spiritualism 



Its Danger 207 

and its attendant phenomena is that where 
a human being has wasted its time and 
stunted its spirit in drinking shops and 
other vicious places and habits, that when 
it dies and the soul leaves the body and 
the spirit is freed from its house of flesh, 
it finds itself still tied to and unable to get 
away from its old haunts. Therefore, if I 
frequent such places I lay myself open for 
attack and the chances of being influenced 
more or less by such spirits. 

THE MEETING PLACE OF DISCARNATE SPIRITS. 

In developing classes and circles, which 
is the acknowledged meeting place of dis- 
carnate spirits, I find this difference, 
whereas in the former haunts I have just 
described I could expect only the bad, here 
I find good and bad, desirable and unde- 
sirable, it is easier for the undesirable or 
evil to manifest on this mundane plane than 
those who have become more ethereal by 
spiritualization. At any free meeting you 
were ever at, didn't the most undesirable in- 
variably make themselves more prominent 
than the desirable. To the spirits these 
meetings are free, not even a collection. 



208 Spiritualism 

And whilst without doubt most of the meet- 
ing places of the spiritualists are guarded 
by bands of highly spiritualized spirits, yet 
it is the place for spirits to meet their 
friends. And there they come regardless 
of their development. 

AND SATAN CAME ALSO. 

But this is no new idea, for ' * there was a 
day when the sons of God came to present 
themselves before the Lord, and Satan came 
also among them to present himself before 
the Lord. "—Job II, 1. 

THINK OF THE BIGGEST CEOOKS YOU HAVE 
KNOWN. 

Has some one come to the conclusion that 
these kinds of spirit people must all of 
necessity be very lacking in intellect? Don't 
draw that conclusion too quickly. Think 
of the biggest crooks you have ever known ; 
haven't you always found them exception- 
ally bright, clever and intellectual in thei'r 
special line of crookedness ? Of course you 
have ; they had to be to get the better of the 



Its Danger 209 

others. This same rule applies on the next 
plane of life as well as here, even to the 
exhibition of suavity. 

OCCUPATION DOES NOT NECESSAKILY MAKE 
OBSESSION IMPERATIVE. 

No line of occupation makes it imperative 
that obsession will follow, and because I 
named two hotel men who were for a time 
affected, that does not mean those in that 
business are the special victims. 

A METHODIST AND EPISCOPALIAN ALLIED WITH 
HOTEL WORK. 

I knew in England the daughter of the 
proprietor of a commercial hotel who was 
one of the most consistent Methodists I ever 
knew. In New York I knew the proprietor 
of one of our largest city hotels who was a 
most consistent Episcopalian and church 
worker. Therefore, it is not occupation, but 
personality that must occupy itself with 
these matters. 

NO GUARANTEE. 

But, on the other hand, neither your oc- 
cupation, creed or church are guarantees 



210 Spiritualism 

that you will never be attacked, that you 
will never yield or be overcome. When a 
member of one of the orthodox churches 
becomes obsessed, they name it Eeligious 
Monomania. Such cases are not un- 
common. 

AN EXTREMELY SAD CASE. 

I knew what to me was an extremely sad 
case. I had known the lady all my life, and 
before I could remember she had been a 
Methodist, consistent in her church duties 
and obligations, and what to me was more 
significant, consistent in her duties to the 
world and her family, and these duties I 
never remember to have been light. Her re- 
ligion had been the one bright happy spot 
in her monotonous, narrow life, but as the 
rolling years sped away, even that was more 
a burden than a joy, the sense of fear and 
of doubt as to whether she was saved or not 
took full possession of her, and that ques- 
tion was asked with tears and sorrow by 
her of every caller at every opportunity, 
until the last few years of her life were no 
light burden to her or her family. To me 



Its Danger 211 

this was a clear case of obsession by a spirit 
who had gone out of the body with that 
fear thought dominating the mind. It 
could not be considered an evil spirit, but 
undeveloped in the broader conceptions of 
its mind and the Christ meaning of being 
saved. 



CAME IN FEAR;, RETURNED REJOICING. 

One day a lady I had known for several 
years called with her daughters at my 
home. The daughters I had not seen for 
some years. In the meantime they had 
grown from girls to womanhood. It was a 
sad story I had to listen to and ran as fol- 
lows : Naming her eldest daughter, she said : 
'' During the past sixteen or eighteen 
months she has become so strangely irrit- 
able, nervous, sleepless and so unreasonable 
with her friends we do not know what tq 
do with her. She makes it hard for all of 
us. When she goes in the street she is con- 
stantly turning around, as she imagines 
some one is following her, and I wondered 
if you could help her, as it seems to me it is 
obsession." I said, ''If she will come and 



212 Spiritualism 

see me I shall be glad to help her if I can. ' ' 
The next day the mother and daughter both 
came. I think I never saw any one so ner- 
vous as the daughter. It seemed that men- 
tally and physically every nerve was on fire^ 
After we had chatted a few minutes I saw 
clairvoyantly standing near her the spirit 
of a young man. I was able to describe him 
clearly and give what I thought was his na- 
tionality. They at once said : ' ' Oh, yes, we 
know him, he has only been dead about two 
years." When I told them it was he who 
was giving her the trouble, they were much 
surprised, for it seems he had not been very 
well off, and from time to time they had 
given him such help as they felt he needed, 
which was in keeping with their general 
characteristics. I at once began to exorcise 
her and to command the spirit to leave her 
and never return. He absolutely refused, 
saying he would leave when he liked and 
not before. I saw it was going to be an 
obstinate case. I therefore asked the as- 
sistance of two Indian spirits, when in- 
stantly two magnificent specimens stood by 
my side. I asked the aid of the Indians be- 
cause they lived so close to nature that 



Its Danger 213 

when they come in contact with the earth 
atmosphere they seem to retain more 
strength. They stepped from my side and 
began making vigorous passes with their 
hands in front of the obsessing spirit. I 
asked them what they were doing. They 
said, hypnotizing him, and they eventually 
put him into the hypnotic sleep. They 
quickly laid him full length on the floor and 
began making a rope of what seemed to me 
prairie grass about an inch thick. When 
they had made what they considered 
enough, they lifted up his left arm, put one 
end of the rope in the arm pit and began 
winding it around him down to his feet. 
They paused a moment and looked at me, 
when I asked them, "what are you going to 
do with him?" "Take him to one of our 
sanatoriums, where he will receive such 
care as he needs, and where he will in real- 
ity be a prisoner without knowing it until 
he has lost all desire to obsess any one, and 
it is perfectly safe to give him his freedom 
when it will be given. ' ' Then I asked, how 
long will he remain in this hypnotic sleep, 
"Perhaps, as you measure time, three 
weeks. When he awakens he will be in a 



214 Spiritualism 

state of convalescence and will be treated 
as such." With that one laid his head on 
his shoulder and the other his feet on his, 
and in that way they bore him away. It 
was a wonderful experience and one never 
to be forgotten. The young lady went 
home, had dinner, and immediately went to 
bed to have the first real night's rest she 
had had for months, and did not awake 
until after ten o'clock the following morn- 
ing, and has not been troubled since. 

To me this was another case which could 
not come under the heading of evil, but of 
ignorant and undeveloped, spirits, for at 
no time did the intentions of this obsessing 
spirit seem to be evil, but mischievous, 
which was very annoying to the young lady. 

A RAKE CASE OF EEADINESS. 

A rare case was brought to my notice a 
short time ago. A gentleman, a member of 
an exceptionally intellectual and cultured 
family and himself not less so than the 
rest, had found himself afflicted with a habit 
for years which was extremely annoying to 
him and distressing to the other members, 



Its Danger 215 

from which habit he couIH not break away. 
He became attracted to books and thoughts 
on occultism, and whilst reading and study- 
ing them became convinced that he was the 
victim of some phase or other of obsession. 
He called on a gentleman who was well 
known for his gifts of exorcism, and they 
discovered that it was a case of obsession. 
The obsessing spirit was told of what he 
was doing, and which he at once acknowl- 
edged. He was requested to leave at once 
and did so, only lingering near the victim 
long enough to ask help for himself, ex- 
plaining that he could not leave without 
assistance, for he had long been ready and 
desirous of doing so, but knew not how to 
release himself. He explained that when 
first attaching himself to this gentleman he 
did not realize that he could inflict upon him 
the very habits which had been his own un- 
doing when here, but discovering that he at 
first felt glad that in a second-hand manner 
he could enjoy the same things as before he 
died. This continued for some time when 
the desire for uplift and better things came 
and he was unable to detach himself. The 
gentleman has not had the slightest inclina- 



216 Spiritualism 

tion to commit the same habit since this 
spirit vacated, and the spirit has returned 
many times to give thanks for the help it 
had received and stating that he (the 
spirit) is now doing rescue work among 
those carrying the same burden he once did. 
I know the man afflicted, the spirit and the 
exorcist. 



WOESE THAN HIGHWAY BOBBERS. 

Discarnate spirits are not the only ones 
who can annoy us without their physical 
presence being with us, but often incarnate 
spirits do the same thing by what some call 
telepathy — mind power, vicious animal 
magnetism, sub-conscious self and voodoo- 
ism. "When these things are used for self- 
ish, vicious purposes, I know of nothing 
more wicked or vile. I consider the people 
using them to gain selfish ends worse than 
highway robbers, because one has generally 
some show, if ever so small, with a highway- 
man, but these invisible entities and powers 
come upon us still and intangible as a 
shadow; and it is almost as difficult to de- 
fend ourselves from their real presence, in- 



Its Danger 217 

dividuality and power. One who has ever 
experienced this could never doubt. 

VOODOOISM. 

Mrs. Emma Hardinge Britten, a pioneer 
spiritualist, world traveller, lecturer, au- 
thor and a noble good woman, had the most 
marked experience of voodooism I have 
ever known, and this is what she tells of it 
in her autobiography. 

"Hitherto it has been my pride and 
pleasure to point to the Divine side of the 
great Spiritual movement, and record how 
often good Spirits come and do help us, 
both consciously and unknown to ourselves, 
to outwork the destiny that lies before us. 

"In the following narrative I am about 
to call the reader's attention to the dangers 
and abuses that may grow out of the prac- 
tice of occult powers, when undertaken by 
ill-regulated minds, or persons who yield 
up the reins of judgment or conscience, to 
the alleged control of any Spirit, whether 
in or out of the mortal form. 

"It was during the time when I was fill- 
ing a lecturing engagement in New York 



218 Spiritualism 

that I received a letter signed 'John 
Gallagher.' This letter, although ad- 
dressed to me on the envelope, and com- 
mencing with my Christian name, was 
evidently, as it then seemed, sent by mis- 
take to me, it being an enthusiastic love 
letter expressed in good enough language, 
but carrying in its context the idea of 
being addressed to a very dear and inti- 
mate friend of the writer's. Coming, 
however, from a person whose name I had 
never even heard, and containing language 
with which no human being then in Amer- 
ica had the right to address to me, I could 
arrive at no other conclusion than that the 
writer, whoever he might be, had penned 
two letters at once, and put his effusion into 
the wrong envelope. Rational as this idea 
seemed, I was soon disabused of it by re- 
ceiving another, and yet another letter of 
the same kind within about a week from 
the receipt of the first. 

''On reading over these letters to Mrs. 
French and Mrs. Culberson, my confidants, 
both came to the conclusion that some un- 
fortunate woman of the town had assumed 
my name (a case that had happened before 



Its Danger 219 

in the experience of a pubKc lecturer), and 
that her correspondent had mistaken the 
party he meant to address for me. Even 
this vague idea we felt obliged to abandon 
when a letter followed of the same char- 
acter, but commenting in the most extrava- 
gant terms on my previous Sunday's lec- 
ture and the beauty of my costume, the de- 
scription of which actually corresponded 
with that I had worn. 

^ ' From this time, other letters of a simi- 
lar character — letters which referred so 
clearly to my lectures, dresses, and appear- 
ance that it was impossible to doubt that 
they were meant for me — kept pouring in 
with such frequency that I resolved at last 
to consult the police in the matter. Hither- 
to I had begged my friends not to mention 
the matter to my mother, lest she should 
share with me the terrible distress that 
these missives occasioned. 

"Although the postmark was Boston, or 
some of the various towns in Massachu- 
setts, the writer showed too intimate 
knowledge of my doings in New York to be 
at any great distance off. As to the signa- 
ture of John Gallagher, that might be, and 



220 Spiritualism 

most likely was, assumed ; hence an inquiry 
into the whereabouts of all the John Gal- 
laghers in the United States would reveal 
nothing. In a word, my official counsellors, 
like my friends, could offer no other solu- 
tion to the affair than vague surmise, and 
thus the matter was left in profound mys- 
tery. I am not quite certain of the year in 
which this frightful persecution com- 
menced. I believe it was in 1858. 

"Certain it is, however, that from that 
time forth for a period of at least two years 
these dreadful epistles followed me every- 
where. I began to sense the near approach 
of these hateful letters, first by a feeling of 
cold chills, and not infrequently by the 
realization of some evil presence around 
me. Sometimes these perceptions were so 
powerful that I felt involuntarily im- 
pressed to place my chair close up against 
the wall, lest the dreadful thing which I 
knew had entered the room should get be- 
hind me. 

"As to the spirits, though I repeatedly 
questioned them on the subject, their only 
answer was, that the evil power around me 
was a human one, and for the time being 



Its Danger 221 

was too far removed from their sphere to 
enable them to control it. All they could do 
was to assure me of their present protec- 
tion and final release. 

''As an evidence of the direct action of 
the invisible power by which I was beset, I 
may mention that during one of my month's 
engagements at Providence, Ehode Island, 
I had agreed to give a week-evening lecture 
at Pawtucket, a place only a few miles dis- 
tant from where I was sta^dng. My friends 
at Providence had arranged to drive me 
over to my lecture and bring me back in a 
'carry-all,' a double-seated covered con- 
veyance. 

' ' The night was intensely dark and cold, 
and during the ride home our driver de- 
termined to stop at a roadside house he 
knew of to borrow a lantern. 

"Arrived at the halfway house my three 
friends, a lady and two gentlemen, got out 
to warm themselves as well as to procure 
the lantern. I was too tired to move, when 
suddenly, sitting in the 'carry-all' by my- 
self, the horses began to rear as if fright- 
ened, and I felt a cold hand doing some- 



222 Spiritualism 

thing to my head, on which I wore a cloud 
(a knitted scarf). 

''I called out loudly to my friends, 'Come 
here; some one's in the carriage!' In- 
stantly all was quiet; but again the horses 
reared, and my friends ran out with the 
lantern. No one was to be seen ; but when 
we arrived home and went into the sitting 
room, to my friends' astonishment and my 
own we found a spray of lilies of the valley 
stuck in my hair, which to my dying day I 
insist was not there when I left for the ride 
home. I told my friends then, and persist 
now, that we had no such flowers with us, 
and that some one or something got into the 
carriage and placed those lilies there. The 
next morning's post brought me one of the 
terrible letters, complimenting me on wear- 
ing those lilies during my ride home, la- 
menting the presence of the strangers with 
me and speaking of words I had said after 
my return. 

"Passing over many terrible months 
fraught with similar mysteries, I now reach 
a period memorable in my changeful life 
as being the only occasion when I visited 
the Southern States of America, in which I 



Its Danger 223 

had several engagements. It was in the 
winter of 1860 that I proceeded to Macon, 
Georgia, to lecture for two months, during 
which time I was the guest of Dr. and Mrs. 
Andrews. 

* ' One day, whilst sitting in my own room 
writing, the feeling of intense cold came 
over me, which heralded-in one of the well- 
known dreadful letters. I had hardly 
pushed back my chair against the wall, to 
prevent an unknown presence from step- 
ping behind me, when Dr. Andrews himself 
knocked at my door and, on being invited 
to enter, presented me with several letters, 
one from my tormentor amongst them. I 
had already apprised my good host of my 
terrible following, and, by way of proving 
my confidence in him, and the nature of the 
mystery by which I was surrounded, when I 
recognized the all too well-known handwrit- 
ing and the postmark Boston, I handed the 
letter unopened to Dr. Andrews and bid him 
read it. He did so, and, giving it back to 
me, we found that some one in Boston had 
described the very scene that took place the 
evening before in my lecture hall in Macon, 
Georgia, over a thousand miles away ! 



224 Spiritualism 

''Dr. Andrews left me to attend Ms pa- 
tients, whilst I sat down to write a letter to 
a Major Rhynders, then chief of police in 
Boston. In this official letter I enclosed 
several missives from this same 'John Gal- 
lagher,' received at different places during 
the past few weeks, and, having a slight ac- 
quaintance with Major Rhynders, I told 
him I wanted him to trace this 'John Gal- 
lagher,' or find as best he could the writer 
of those letters. I told him that in six 
weeks from that time I should be in Boston 
to fulfill a two months' engagement, and 
that the entire amount of my fees — $200 — 
and all that I could raise in addition, if re- 
quired, I would pay to arrest and help 
prosecute the villianous author of these 
letters. I had just sealed and directed my 
packet to the Boston chief of police, when 
the voice of one of my best beloved Spirit 
friends, my sailor brother Tom, spoke to 
me, and the following colloquy ensued : 

"Spirit: 'Who is Emma sending such 
a huge package of letters to, and why?' I 
answered, 'you know; you will not or can- 
not help me, so I will help myself. ' 



Its Danger 225 

' ' Spirit : ' We will and do help you when 
we can ; Spirits are not God, and cannot do 
all we wish or mortals demand. ' 

"Emma: 'Perhaps so. Then I repeat I 
will help myself.' 

''Spirit: 'Emma's fire is low, and the 
weather is chilly; pray make up your fire 
with those letters?' 

"Emma: 'I will not! and unless you 
give me some explanation of this horrible 
mystery these letters shall go to the Boston 
chief of police.' 

' ' Spirit : ' Poor Emma ; how she will re- 
pent her work ! ' 

' ' Emma : ' What do I care. I have no one 
to help me. The letters shall go ! ' 

"Spirit: 'Will our Emma wait, for her 
own soul's sake, and to please her Spirit 
friends, for six weeks?' 

' ' Emma : ' On this day six weeks I shall 
be in Boston. What then?' 

' ' Spirit : ' W^ait till after the first Sunday 
tomorrow six weeks, when you speak at 
Boston. If you are not glad then that you 
did not send your letters to the police at 
that time, we will not remonstrate against 



226 Spiritualism 

your sending them or publishing them 
abroad in any way/ 

''Emma: 'I agree; six weeks only, re- 
member ' 

*'In six weeks from the date of this con- 
versation I arrived in Boston, Mass. I had 
been traveling for eighteen hours, and ar- 
rived on a Saturday, about 2 o'clock in the 
day. 

' ' The friend who met me took me to the 
house of Mr. Farrar, in Hancock Street, 
president of the society by whom I was 
engaged. 

''Retiring to my room, after a three 
o'clock lunch, I begged Mrs. Farrar to let 
me be entirely quiet, in the hope of gaining 
some rest prior to the six-thirty dinner 
hour. I had just prepared for my much 
needed repose, when Mrs. Farrar herself 
knocked at my door, and, on entering, be- 
sought me to give audience to two ladies 
who had implored her interest to obtain an 
interview with me on what they declared to 
be a matter of life and death. 

"Overpowered as I was with fatigue, I 
could not resist my kind hostess's pleading, 



Its Danger 227 

so I descended to the drawing room, only 
making the condition that, as I myself had 
no secrets, Mrs. Farrar should be present 
at the coming interview. 

''We found awaiting me two ladies, the 
youngest of whom, speaking in a refined 
and graceful manner, said, 'Allow me to 
say, Mrs. Hardinge, we are mother and 
daughter, both widows, and have come to 
you on a most singular and embarrassing 
errand. This is my mother, Mrs. 
Gallagher. ' 

"I need hardly say that I started as I 
heard this hated name. 

" 'Do you know my brother, Mr. John 
Gallagher?' the lady added, anxiously. 'Not 
personally,' I replied, 'but,' I added, bit- 
terly, 'I have had some dreadful letters 
from an individual signing himself thus.' 

"Then it was that, with many tears, in 
which the poor mother joined, the daughter 
explained that they had both been warm 
Spiritualists for many years. Her brother 
John, who was a custom house officer, in an 
excellent situation, and the sole support of 
both his mother and sister, had no belief in 
the cause until they persuaded him some 



228 Spiritualism 

two or three years before to go and hear 
me lecture. 

''He became so deeply interested on that 
occasion that he continued his enquiries, 
and most unhappily fell in with one of those 
self-styled mediums, who was always 
preaching as well as practising the doc- 
trine of 'affinities.' Having soon discov- 
ered that her unfortunate visitor had con- 
ceived a sudden and violent infatuation for 
the first female lecturer he had ever heard 
or seen, the cunning impostor flattered her 
trusting dupe by pretending that 'the 
Spirits ' influenced her to say that I, Emma 
Hardinge, was this man's 'affinity,' but, 
that, in order to win me, he must direct all 
his actions under certain laws and rules. 

"In league with this impostor was an- 
other of the same kind, a man (all too well 
known in Boston) who claimed to be an 
adept in East Indian Magic. This precious 
pair so wrought upon their victim, that 
after putting him on a regime of fruit and 
vegetables and reducing him by fasting, 
etc., they commenced to teach him abomin- 
able Voodoo arts, by which he could go out 
of his body and visit as well as follow me 
about as a Spirit. 



Its Danger . 229 

"The ladies added, that he kept neither 
his infatuation or his practices secret from 
them. On the contrary, he showed them 
continually the book in which the records of 
his visits to me were inscribed. Therein 
was described the dresses I wore and what 
I did and said, and the houses I stayed at 
during my travels. The sister added, that 
when he found I was announced to come to 
Boston, he had besought his mother and 
sister to visit me, carry his book of records 
with them, show it to me, and if, as he 
believed it would be, found correct, they 
were to tell me how long and faithfully he 
had spiritually followed me, and entreat me 
to grant him an interview. 

"When these ladies proceeded to show 
me the book of records, and I found how 
evidently I had been traced, my dresses de- 
scribed, the very pieces I had played on the 
piano named, and my walks followed, etc., 
etc., etc., I became almost frantic with rage 
and horror. 'See him!' I exclaimed. 
'Never!' I added, what was true, that 
nothing but pity and compassion for his 
mother and sister prevented me from pub- 



230 Spiritualism 

lishing Ms conduct to the world and holding 
liim up to universal execration. 

* ' The poor mother went on her knees to 
me, pleading that I would see and remon- 
strate with him, but grieved as I was for 
her I sternly refused. Then came the ter- 
rible problem of what they should say to 
him on their return. Mrs. Farrar urged 
that they should tell him the truth, and rep- 
resent the abhorrence in which I regarded 
his conduct, but, I, alas ! in my blind rage 
counselled another course of action, and 
one which I shall ever repent of. I said 
what I then thought most truly, that the 
best, perhaps only way, to cure him of these 
fetish practices was, to allege that all he 
had recorded was wrong, fanciful, and 
false, and that no such powers as he claimed 
to possess appertained to humanity. 

' ' I was sincere in my wish to serve these 
afflicted women, without considering that 
falsehood can never be right. Enough to 
say that the poor mother and sister left me 
deeply sorrowing, but most reluctantly 
promising to attempt a cure of the unhappy 
man's infatuation by following my counsel. 

''According to promise, they wrote to me 



Its Danger 231 

in a few days, informing me that they had 
followed my directions, but the result was 
still more terrible to them than even his 
former unhappy practices. 

'^Whether under the belief that he had 
throughout deluded himself, or that the na- 
ture of his practices had destroyed his 
mental balance, none could say. It is 
enough to add, as the conclusion of this de- 
plorable narrative, that John Gallagher's 
widowed sister called on Mrs. F'arrar one 
day during my absence, to inform her that 
she had just returned from the Worcester 
Lunatic Asylum, where she had left her 
hapless brother a raving maniac. 

''Let me add, that in pity for the poor 
mother and sister, the only part of this sad 
narrative that I can recall with any satis- 
faction was the burning of all the maniac's 
letters, especially of those I had intended 
to put in the hands of the police. 

''As a duty that I owe to the noble cause 
of True Spiritualism, no less than as a 
warning to those who either dare to abuse 
its potencies or to insult its divine realities 
by misuse, I feel bound to say that the nar- 
rative I have written out in the preceding 



232 Spiritualism 

pages was not the only case in which I was 
made the victim of base attempts to put the 
horrors of Voodooism npon me. 

' ' But the whilst I look back with horror 
upon my would-be captors, I am no less in- 
dignant with those traders who, under the 
pretense of mediumship, talk to their sitters 
of 'Affinities,' and teach them the same 
arts and base attempts at the projection of 
mental influences as are common amongst 
the Fakirs of India and the Magi of most 
Eastern lands." 



MORE THAN" CONQUEEOES THEOUGH HIM THAT 
LOVETH US. 

But it matters not even though all the 
discarnate and incarnate hosts of darkness 
work all their vile forces against us, "We 
shall be more than conquerors through Him 
that loveth us," so long as we rely on his 
power, for He it is who is the creative mind, 
permeating all that is. Therefore, if we 
keep at onement with the source of all 
power, we may sing with absolute faith, in 
spite of, and in defiance of, all other powers 
however great they be 



Its Danger 233 

' ' The King of love my shepherd is 
Whose goodness faileth never, 

I nothing lack if I am his 
And he is mine forever. ' ' 



EMANCIPATION. 

Why be afraid of death as though your life 

were breath? 
Death but anoints your eyes with clay. Oh, 

glad surprise ! 
Why should you be forlorn? Death only 

husks the corn. 
Why should you fear to meet the thresher 

of the wheat? 
Is sleep a thing to dread? Yet sleeping you 

are dead 
Till you awake and rise, here, or beyond 

the skies. 
Why should it be a wrench to leave your 

wooden bench? 
Why not with happy shout run home when 

school is out? 
The dear ones left beliind! 0, foolish one 

and blind, 
A day and you will meet — A night and you 

will greet. 



234 Spiritualism 

This is the death of Death, to breathe away 

a breath 
And know the end of strife, and taste the 

deathless life. 
And joy without a fear, and smile without a 

tear ; 
And work, nor care to rest, and find the last 

the best. De. M. D. Babcock. 



The Power of Thought 

AND 

The JNTeed of the World 



CHAPTER XIII. 

The Power of Thought and the Need op 

THE World 

Is Love, Sympathy, Companionship. 

As we step into the streets of our great 
cities, and meet the hurrying crowds in pur- 
suit of bread, or in the attempt to make a 
fortune, we are struck by a great human 
wail, that in its very agony is full of longing 
and hunger for human love, sympathy, 
understanding, friendship, and in its de- 
spair, says, no man careth for my soul. 
Hoping our senses have deceived us, we 
gaze into the faces of the passers-by, desir- 
ing to read there a more cheerful story, but 
alas, the care, sorrow and anxiety we see 
depicted there, from the one who toils to 
supply the home with necessities, to the one 
who seeks safe investments for millions, 
there stands out over and above all else the 
longing for one who understands and is 
ready with sympathy and moral support. 
When do we see these things? When the 

337 



238 Spiritualism 

mask is off, when the unguarded moment 
reveals the real person ; yes, all wear masks, 
especially the thoughtful, and it is right to 
do so, if it be worn to hide from the world 
our sorrows, struggles, difficulties; surely 
it is not right for us to carry a banner with 
all our woes written on it, thus depressing, 
and saddening all with whom we come in 
contact. It is our duty, as far as we can, to 
make the world brighter for our being in it, 
more hopeful, more courageous. 

This duty of wearing a mask does not de- 
bar its wearer from taking it off to his, or 
her, friend, when seeking advice, sympathy 
and moral support, etc. If you do not, the 
advice cannot be so good, nor the sympathy 
so deep. What is the cause of this lack of 
friendship and care for each other? Utter 
and absolute selfishness, and forgetfulness 
of the Golden Rule. Does some one ask if 
there is such a thing as a real friend? I tell 
you **Yes," but your very question shows 
you have not yet learned that to have 
friends you must show yourself friendly; 
that you must give as well as take. Do 
you think it is a square deal, to make of 
the man or woman who has elected his 
or her self to be your friend, the dump- 



Its Danger 239 

ing ground for the debris of all your 
troubles, and never take them any of 
the flowers that grow in your garden? 
The practice of this perpetual dump- 
ing has killed many a friendship. I 
know a man that for years when he has 
come up against difficulties (and he often 
imagines he is up against them) just runs 
to an old stand-by friend of his who listens 
and counsels to the best of his ability, but 
as long as things keep smooth, mum is the 
word, the old stand-by friend seems entirely 
forgotten. 

For years I have tried to be a friend to 

and I shall continue to try and be 

one, because they have so few, and their 
life is often so lonesome and sad. For what 
reason? Lots of their acquaintances could 
answer that question. When they come to 
see me I mentally say ''what is the tale of 
woe this time? " Soon it reveals itself. 
When the ocean of life is smooth sailing 
for them, I seldom see them or hear from 
them, but I always feel sorry, not only at 
the time any fresh difficulty comes their 
way, but constantly, because they know so 
little how to be happy, or how to retain 



240 Spiritualism 

their friends, and will not learn the joy that 
comes of giving one's self for others. 

Ealph Waldo Trine has said : 

' ' Wonld we have all the world love ns, we 
must first then love all the world — merely a 
great scientific fact. ' ' 

If this great multiude we have spoken of, 
who long to be understood and cared for 
would drop that desire, and start at once to 
give to others sympathy, understanding and 
love, and if everybody living should com- 
mence to do that tomorrow, the world would 
be revolutionized in a week — why? 

For thoughts are living things 

On swift, creative wings, 

Obeying laws Divine, 

Their like returns to you. 

So, then, my wishing is 

That all your thoughts be true; 

Filled with good will to men 

And every living thing. 

So shall your cup of joy 

Be filled without alloy. 

The question naturally arises, ''If 
thoughts are living things, how is it that 
the multitude do not get what they want!" 



Its Danger 241 

Dr. 0. S. Harden explains that in a few 
words in his book, ''The Miracle of Right 
Thought." He calls it working for one 
thing and expecting something else. If you 
should question this great majority of those 
who are dissatisfied with their lot, and ask 
them if they were doing all in their power 
to better it, it is almost certain you would 
get some such reply as this: "Why of 
course I am, and I have been for years, but 
then I never expect any good to come my 
way, it never does," How effectively, it 
never does ' ' and they do not expect it to, ' ' 
closes the gates against accomplishing the 
thing they want ; it is a declaration of want 
of faith both in God and themselves, and 
that is the reason why so few succeed. In 
Dr. Harden 's words — it is working for one 
thing and expecting something else. If 
thoughts are to be living things, they must 
be backed by living faith. 

I want you to notice the difference in 
these people to whom good things never 
come, and a young man from whom I had a 
letter last week. He had been out on the 
road a few days, traveling for a New York 
firm, and he wrote me saying, that up to 
the time of writing he had not done very 



242 Spiritualism 

well, but that lie was not discouraged, be- 
cause he had made up his mind in spite of 
anything he was going to do well. That is 
the kind of fibre success is built of, that 
which refuses to see anything else but 



N^O MAN LIVETH UNTO HIMSELF. 

I knew a distressing case in England. An 
old lady and gentleman with whom I was 
acquainted were constantly complaining of 
how their family neglected them, and with 
bitterness and pain almost daily stated be- 
cause they were poor nobody came to see 
them, none of their friends cared for them. 

Their family were as devoted as they, 
their father and mother, would let them 
be, supplying all the necessities and as 
many of the luxuries of life as they pos- 
sibly could. I was so placed I could not 
help but know, yet many a time I have 
heard the mother state they never spent 
a penny on her or their father. 

The father had been a manufacturer and 
had been rich, but with time the conditions 
of trade changed, and with the change his 
business and his money grew less, until 



7^5 Danger 243 

both were gone. I was sorry for them. 
The family, who knew I had often heard 
the complaint regarding the neglect by 
their friends, became suspicious that even 
I might also blame the friends, so one day 
one of them said, ' ' You have so often heard 
father and mother complain of their 
friends, it seems to me you should know 
the facts, which are these: Years ago 
many people made social calls upon father 
and mother constantly. After such callers 
had gone I have often heard remarks like 
this, 'Cannot understand people who 
have got homes wanting to go to other 
peoples' houses.' When I reached a 
point where I realized what such calls de- 
manded, I many a time asked them if they 
had returned the call of such and such a 
friend, to get the reply, Hhey had not, and 
were not going to; home was their place.' 
This went on until people realized they 
were not welcome, and one after another 
left off calhng. I do not blame them. Now 
things have changed. Of course they would 
like the comfort such friends could give." 

This unfortunate couple by living only 
for themselves, and within themselves, had 
not only lost their perspective of things, 



244 Spiritualism 

but had so effectively closed the avenue for 
things to come their way that the very 
friends whose advice might have been help- 
ful, and whose material help might have 
kept the wheels of commerce rolling, were 
absolutely cut off. 

They that want friends must show them- 
selves friendly, and must give as well as 
take. To some people like this couple there 
is absolutely a melancholy satisfaction if 
they can find some one to blame for what is 
really their own fault. As far as I know 
this old couple never for a moment con- 
ceived that the reason they did not have 
friends was their own fault. They couldn't, 
for they never got far enough away from 
themselves to get the right perspective. 
We may say with Burns : 
^'0, wad some pow'r the giftie gie us 
To see oursels as ithers see us." 
But before we can do that we must get 
far enough away from, or outside of our- 
selves mentally, to get a correct perspec- 
tive, and when we do, we shall probably 
not easily recognize ourselves. 

Has it ever struck you as strange how 
much we see and hear for other people that 
really we should apply to ourselves ? I re- 



7^5 Danger 245 

member some people I used to meet at a 
church I attended. It ahnost seemed as if 
these particular people specially attended 
church for the benefit of others. I never 
remember hearing them say they had en- 
joyed the service or that they felt it had 
been for them, but many and many a time 
as we were leaving church they would say : 
"My, I should think the pastor has made 
so and so feel uncomfortable this morning. 
I never heard anything fit anybody so well 
as that did them. ' ' It frequently seemed to 
me they could have taken it home with 
great profit. 

If you and I take to ourselves the lessons 
that every day come before us, we shall be 
busy mending our own ways. A friend who 
called upon me the other day said he 
would like to be taken in the moving pic- 
tures just to see how he looked to other 
people. I feel sure many of us could 
profit by so doing, and it would make us 
altogether too busy mending our own faults 
to be looking for other people's, and what 
is more, I believe we would find that it is 
the most effectual way of helping other 
people. 

I know of a lawyer in the city, a man 



246 Spiritualism 

with a considerable practice, who when his 
clients begin stating their troubles, fre- 
quently tells them that if they will go 
and look in the mirror when they get home 
they will then see the one who is to blame. 

This everlasting blaming is a terrible 
thing, and another thing is worse, when 
people interfere with what is none of their 
business. The New York Journal pub- 
lished on Dec. 17, 1913, an account of a 
man who tried to tell Ella Wheeler Wilcox 
what she should and should not do. Now, 
if curses, like chickens, come home to roost, 
sometimes inteference with what is none of 
our business finds its own resting place. 
Here is Mrs. Wilcox's account of the whole 
thing: 

''A man who says he is a great student 
and has studied all the religions, urges me 
to be 'sinsible' and discontinue writing or 
talking about 'God' or * Heaven' or 'Future 
Life.' 

''He says all these things are supersti- 
tions, which people of intellect must aban- 
don or resign all claim to intellectuality. 

' ' This man is, of course, an egotist of the 
rankest order. He is so blinded by his 
self-conceit that he cannot see Truth. 



Its Danger 247 

''He is like an individual who sits hold- 
ing his own photograph close to his eyes 
and says, ' There is no universe, no sun, no 
skies ; there is only this card on which I see 
my face.' 

''The perfectly balanced human being 
forms a complete triangle. Physically 
strong, mentally strong, spiritually strong ; 
the three natures are in perfect harmony. 

"We find few such beings, and conse- 
quently the world is filled with those who 
are in some respects dwarfed or deformed. 

"There is the robust athlete, whose 
prowess lies in the physical realm. He has 
not developed his brain or his spirit. 

"There is the hysterical spiritual being, 
who thinks only of the world beyond and 
neglects his mind and his body. 

' ' There is the intellectual giant, who has 
a stunted body and no spirituality, or who 
has two sides of the triangle developed, 
body and mind, and only a blank space 
where the spiritual space should be. 

"No one of these individuals is living the 
life God wants man to live. Each one must 
be sent back to earth in many incarnations 
until he learns to make the perfect triangle 



248 Spiritualism 

of himself, and then, being complete, he can 
pass on to other Avork, in other Mansions, 
in other Realms. 

' ' My correspondent may be a strong man 
physically and mentally, but he is dwarfed 
and stunted spiritually; and because he is 
so, he thinks there is no spiritual truth in 
the universe ; as the man born blind might 
think there was no light or sun or moon or 
star. 

^ ' Fortunately there are hundreds of bril- 
liant minds ready to give their testimony 
to the contradiction of this man's state- 
ments that earth and human life are acci- 
dents and that chance rules all things, and 
that there is no life beyond this life, and no 
realm beyond earth. 

' ' One of the greatest men who ever lived 
on earth, a great scientist, a great humani- 
tarian, a great scholar, was Swedenborg. 
And this man gave up position and power 
and place among the ambitious people of 
earth to devote his mature years to telling 
the world the marvellous facts he had 
learned about Realms within Realms and 
Life beyond Life. 

' ' When he was dying at the advanced age 
of eighty-three, he was offered all the so- 



Its Danger 249 

lace of orthodox religion if he would say 
that he had not heard these voices or seen 
these visions. 'But I did see and did 
hear,' he replied. And those were almost 
his last words. 

''Swedenborg's opinions on politics or 
science left no marked impression on the 
world; very few people even know that he 
was renowned in those days. But Sweden- 
borg's great religious philosophy is the 
comfort and the strength of thousands of 
intellectual and useful human beings. 

''There is an old Hindoo phrase which 
reads thus : 
" 'He who knows not, and knows not that 

he knows not, he is a fool ; shun him. 
He who knows not, and knows that he 

knows not, he is simple ; teach him. 
He who knows, and knows not that he 

knows, is asleep ; wake him. 
He who knows, and knows that he knows, 

he is wise ; follow him. ' 
"Swedenborg was the latter. He was 
the perfect triangle. Great in all ways. 
There are thousands of other human beings 
living, and thousands who have lived, 
strong of intellect, clear of mind, who have 
given to the world their testimony of abso- 



250 Spiritualism 

lute knowledge of the existence of invisi- 
ble worlds about us, and invisible helpers 
near us, just as travelers on our earth re- 
port different conditions and different 
scenes in Northern and Southern and Arc- 
tic and Equatorial locations. So the vari- 
ous Seers observe various conditions in the 
spiritual worlds. There is just as much va- 
riety in these realms as in our own, and 
each Seer sees according to his own powers 
of sight and according to his own mental 
and spiritual development. 

* ' The architect, on earth, who is absorbed 
wholly in buildings, takes a walk with an 
artist who cares only for nature, and one 
returns unable to tell anything about the 
plants, trees, flowers or scenery, but every- 
thing about the style of houses he has seen ; 
while the artist has not even noticed a 
house, but is filled with facts concerning 
the landscape, the streams, the trees, the 
verdure. 

^'Precisely so with the man who has the 
open eye in spiritual realms. I know a 
quiet, industrious business man, respected 
by his fellows, loved by his associates, who 
seeks neither glory nor riches, and who is 
ever ready to serve his friends or his ene- 



Its Danger 251 

mies with good deeds. This man has the 
open eye and he is privileged in being able 
to see the invisible realms and the invisible 
helpers who move about among us. Natu- 
rally possessed of the clear-seeing eye, he 
has developed the power of the initiate' 
by high thinking, and living, and prepara- 
tion. There are a few such on earth, and to 
meet and talk with them is to gain a great 
spiritual uplift. 

"Without a faith in other states of exist- 
ence, this life at its brightest and best 
would be insupportable to a finely organ- 
ized and loving soul. The sudden calami- 
ties which befall dear ones, the sorrows and 
tragedies which come into every life, would 
make this brief earth stay a ghastly jest 
were it not that we know it as only one 
room in our Father's mansion, and that 
we are to enter other rooms, dressed in 
other bodies, after we have passed from 
this. 

''Other realms, other lives await us. 

''Earth is but one of many spheres 
through which we pass. 

"We shall meet and recognize those who 
were our spiritual kin, in these other 
realms. 



252 Spiritualism 

''Vital, deep, beautiful affection can 
never die. 

''Only ephemeral loves die with death. 

"Ambition for worldly honors, enjoy- 
ment of wholly physical pleasures and all 
that are based on selfishness and avarice 
eventually die with the body. They con- 
tinue for a time after death, because they 
have fettered the spirit and prevented it 
from progressing at once. They make the 
spirit earthbound for a season, but after a 
time the spirit gains its knowledge of higher 
ideals of happiness and goes on to the 
various heavens, and from those higher 
heavens it is allowed to come at times to 
earth to sustain and uplift and help those 
who remain. 

' ' There is no death. There are no dead. ' ' 

Fortunately we find exceptions to the 
great multitude who seem burdened with 
care. Are they rich? Of course they are 
rich, but rarely with material things. 
Theirs are the riches of the spirit and mind. 
Such a one I knew in the person of an old 
lady eighty-five years old, who lived a few 
miles out of New York City on the banks 
of the Hudson. It is true she was such a 
rare character that she stood out like a 



Its Danger 253 

silhouette. She was very popular with the 
young set, the boys and girls seventeen to 
twenty-one or -two, not because she made 
herself foolish by trying to dress or act like 
that age herself, but because she always 
joyed in their happiness and was ever 
ready to help give them a good time. I 
never remember hearing her with a tale of 
woe, but let me tell you, I do know she had 
gone through as much sorrow as anybody 
need want to. Every one of her family had 
gone to the other side of life, she had but 
very little money, but heaps of friends, and 
always a cheering word for those in sorrow 
and always a pleasant greeting for every- 
body she knew. 

Let none yield to despair, but ' ' turn your 
face to the sun and the shadows will fall 
behind you" and claim the following- 
thought as your own, for it is true : 
*' There is no summit you may not attain, 
No purpose which you may not yet achieve, 
If you will wait serenely, and believe 
Each seeming loss is but a step to gain, 
Between the mountain-tops lie vale and 

plain. 
Let nothing make you question, doubt, or 

grieve. 



254 Spiritualism 

Give only Good, and Good alone receive 
And as you welcome joy, so welcome pain. 
That which you most desire awaits your 

word, 
Throw wide the door and bid it enter in, 
Speak, and the strong vibrations shall be 

stirred, 
Speak, and above earth's loud, unmeaning 

din. 
Your silent declaration shall be heard. 
All things are possible to God's own kin. 

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox. ' ' 



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